Black Finishes the Job

Zach Smith and team Blue did not go away quietly in last nights fall league season finale, but the combination of youth along with 25 years experience in net and Noah prevailed in the end.   Less than a minute into the game, Braxton put Black up 1-0 and it looked like the tone was set for everyone present at the rink to go home early.   Blue had answers in the first 2 periods and actually found themselves up by 2 goals on 2 different occasions late in the 2^nd period.  Clint settled in and made some good saves early in the game while Zach and Zach set one another up for a couple goals in the first period to keep Blue in the game.  Late in the first period,  Braxton set Noah up for a goal in front of the net to put Black ahead 4-3 at the end of the first period.   Laken had a first period goal as well for Black.  Blue had a different look last night with Jaron Buffone, Cody Haag and Morgan Lyons missing in action.  Jason Stamler and Brian Anderson filled in and combined for 3 second period goals to put Blue ahead 6-4 midway through the 2^nd period.  Stamler scored 2 goals outright and set Brian up for the other.  Noah scored to close the gap to 6-5 but Zach Smith scored what ended up being Blue’s final goal of the game to put them ahead 7-5 late in the 2^nd period.  Unfortunately for blue, no lead against black is safe and the 2 goal lead was gone by the time the 2^nd period ended.    Noah led the charge the rest of the way with Braxton closing the game out at the end as Black outscored Blue 4-0 in the 3^rd period to cap off their impressive fall league championship season with an 11-7 win.   Adam made some good saves throughout the 3^rd period to keep black in control of the game.  Its hard to believe that black lost a game this season, but their only loss came in overtime to team white the 2^nd week of the season.  Team White was without Bubba and Ben Rossi in last nights first game against Black.  The tone was set early in that game when Black went ahead 5-0 at the end of the first period and remained ahead 7-2 after 2 periods despite a goal from Zach Foradori (filling in for Rossi) and Andy but Black pulled away in the 3^rd period to win 12-2.  Noah led the way but it was a good balanced effort with Braxton, Troy Gaydosh and Laken each scoring at least 2 goals.  Adam made a lot of good saves in the 2^nd period to keep black comfortably ahead.  Gold and Blue met soon after with the honor of going up against black in the finale last night.  Blue set the tone in their game against Gold going up 3-0 at the end of the first period.  Josh Clontz filled in until Brian got his goalie equipment off (couldn’t come off fast enough) and scored one of Blue’s 3 goals and assisted Zach Foradori on one of the others to help put Blue ahead 3-0.  It seemed like the teams exchanged a lot of goals the rest of the way but Gold never got closer than 2 goals the rest of the way.  Bob and Cory accounted for all 7 goals for Gold while Blue had a good mix of scoring from both the Zach’s while Brian and Josh Clontz accounted for 3 of blue’s goals in their fill in role’s.  The loss ended Gold’s season while Blue had the honor of losing to Black in the final.  Thanks to everyone for a good fall league season.  We look forward to the XHL season which we are planning on starting January 12^th.   We are going to plan for a New Years Tournament on Monday, January 5^th starting around 5:15 p.m.  Waiver forms will be brought to the rink to sign for those playing in the XHL this season and you are more than welcome to bring your XHL entry fee to the rink that night which will help make the opening night of the XHL a little smoother.    Reach out to me if you are planning on playing in the January 5^th tournament. Last Nights Results: Black 12 White 2, Blue 9 Gold 7, Black 11 Blue 7