4 teams left, black still unbeaten

Black 11  White 8

We weren’t sure if black would have to play last night after orange elected to forfeit their game against them, but team white picked up a win to start the night against blue and were willing to take their chances against black last night at 820.   Unfortunately for them, they ran out of energy as they were playing their 2^nd ironman game of the night.  When the game first started, it didn’t look like energy was going to be an issue when Ben Rossi scored 3 times in the opening 5 minutes of the game to put his team up 3-0.    The momentum kept going for white when Andy scored to put them up 4-0 midway through the first period.  Bubba played a solid first period for white and also kept them within striking distance in the 3^rd period by making a lot of good saves, but team black was able to get back in the game on some good passing, mainly from Noah, to allow them to chip away at the 4 goal deficit.  Braxton scored their first goal, then Noah set Troy up for another.  Zach Foradori filled in for black and scored their 3^rd goal to close the gap to 4-3 and Noah would score soon after to tie it up at 4 after the first period.  Jake scored for white to put them up 5-4 early in the 2^nd period but that’s the last time white would get a lead in this game.  Noah and Braxton scored to put Black ahead 6-5.  The game would remain close the rest of the way but black never trailed after going ahead 6-5.  Following a goal from Andy to tie the game at 7, black scored the last 2 goals of the 3^rd period including a goal from Noah at the close of the 2^nd period to give them a 9-7 lead.  Bubba faced a lot of shots in the 3^rd period and saved most of them, but black kept coming and eventually scored two third period goals to put the game away.  Zach Foradori made it 10-7 with about 5 minutes to go in the 3^rd.   Team black really should have a bye next week and let gold, blue and white go at it to see who has to beat them twice, but they would like to play next week and possibly see the other 3 teams get put away.

Vegas Gold 9  Green 4

While not a complete blowout, Vegas Gold led from start to finish in this game and used a 4 goal stretch in the late part of the first period and early part of the 2^nd period to stay in control of the game.  Braxton filled in for green and scored a first period goal to close the gap to 3-2, but gold scored 4 unanswered goals to go up 7-2 in the 2^nd period.  Coltyn had another good goal scoring night for gold while Fred added a couple goals as well.  Bob scored early to put them up 2-0 on a nice pass from Coltyn and was able to spend the majority of his time on the bench in the 3^rd period.   Dave Jewell scored 3 times with a couple of those coming on good set ups from Matt and Brian but they got no closer than 4 goals in the 3^rd period.   After a little bit of a rough start, Cody Schaeffer settled into the game and made his share of good saves as the game went on, but the team could not generate enough offense to get back into the game.   Kaden bounced back and had a good game after a rough week in their loss to white.   Despite the win, a long road lies ahead for Gold.  One game at a time starting with Blue next Monday.

White 11  Blue 6

White used a big 3^rd period to put this game away.   The game was tied at 2 after 1 but white took a 6-4 lead by the end of the 2^nd period.  Clint was hard to score on for the first half of the game, but white had some good passing in this game.  Andy scored the first goal on a nice pass from Ben Rossi.  Later in the game, Andy returned the favor and set Rossi up for an important goal.  White did a good job of spreading out the goals.   Each of their 4 players (Jake, Clontz, Andy, Rossi) had at least 2 goals with Andy and Ben Rossi leading the way.  Zach Foradori scored 3 goals for blue while Zach Smith added 2 and Jaron Buffone adding the other.  Buffone’s goal came from center court in the first period to tie the game at 1.  Other than that, Bubba played another good game in net for white and made a couple big saves on a blue power play in the 3^rd period when the game was still close.   White led 6-4 after 2 periods and clung onto an 8-6 lead when they were called for a penalty, but Blue was not able to score despite a couple real good chances.  White would go onto score 3 late goals to put the game out of reach. 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----Team black can clinch next week with 2 wins.   Gold, Blue and White would not be able to clinch until December 29^th.  ---

Monday, December 22^nd:  Black can clinch if they win at 620 and 820. 

620 ---- White vs Black (If Black wins, they will play the Gold/Blue winner at 820 for a chance to clinch)

720 ---   Gold vs Blue (Loser Eliminated, Winner will play against white or black depending on who wins their game).

820 ---- Gold/Blue Winner vs White/Black Winner.

***With the possibility of double headers and rosters being so thin, teams can pick up players from teams that are already eliminated as long as the opposing captain(s) are ok with it.*** 

***Saturday, December 27^th is not going to work for the Christmas Tournament.   We are planning to have it on Monday, January 5^th.  If Black wins both games next week, we can try to have the tournament on Monday, December 29^th***