Colonials Move On

Bear Claw 13 Walkers 1

Colonials 9 Hounds 5

Colonials 10 Bear Claw 6

The next 2 games may feel like David vs Goliath, but as new Colonial member Jay Edmiston said after the games last night, “any game we play from here on out is a bonus.”   The regular season games against the knights weren’t a total embarrassment, only losing 5-3 and 8-3 with the 8-3 game actually feeling a little closer than the final score indicated.  Jay Edmiston was not present in either game against the knights this season so maybe his presence will bring some better luck.   To get another shot at the knights, the colonials had to win back to back games playing ironman last night.  The original plan was to have Tony Dodd suit up in net so John Matchock could skate out in the 2nd game last night, but Hounds goalie Chris Snyder was a no show which opened up the door for Tony Dodd to goalie for the Hounds.  Following a hard fought 9-5 win over the Hounds, there was no way the colonials were going to ask Dodd to play a 3rd game in net last night, meaning they would have to play the bear claw ironman with John Matchock back in net.  Before the season started, Matchock wanted to skate out more but goalies haven’t exactly been easy to come by this season.   When arriving at the rink around 6:45 last night, there was anticipation of a highly contested Walkers/Bear Claw play in game going on, but when arriving, the scoreboard said 13-1 with 5:49 left in the 2nd period.  Just like that, the bear claw were waiting on an opponent while we were waiting for 2 goalies to show up for the Hounds/ Colonials game.  When Bubba did not show up, we had to recruit Tony Dodd to goalie for the Hounds and wait for John Matchock to arrive for the colonials.  Matchock had said that he may be a little late arriving but the colonials planned to use Dodd until Matchock got there.  The plan backfired, which made the Bear Claw wait even longer.  The Hounds and Colonials got started about 15 minutes later than scheduled and there were a couple equipment time outs during the game, which made the bear claw wait just a little bit longer.  The Colonials led from start to finish in this game, but the Hounds skated hard from start to finish and hung within striking distance throughout.  The Hounds went into this game on a 3 game winning streak and while that streak ended last night, they should be feeling pretty good about their play in the last month of the season.   The colonials got off to a 4-0 lead late in the first period.  Jay Edmiston got the scoring started while Bob set Brian up for a couple early goals but the Hounds answered with 2 late first period goals (Buffone and Haag).   The Colonials scored 3, 2nd period goals to go up 7-2 (Brian/Bob/Phil) but the Hounds (Britton?) got a late 2nd period goal to close the gap to 7-3 going into the 3rd period.  Tyler Waltman and Corey Bassett each had 3rd period goals to close the gap to 8-5 in the 3rd period but Phil Mace added an insurance goal to give the colonials a 4 goal cushion and the lead held up when the team was too tired to keep pushing for offense.  Bob had a break away chance in the closing seconds of the 3rd period but he gently pushed the ball to the corner to let the clock run out.  He wanted to save some of those goals for the 2nd game against the Bear Claw.  After what felt like an eternity, the colonials got the 9-5 win and a chance to play the bear claw for the last playoff spot.   Following a 5 minute break, the colonials got back on the floor to go up against a well rested Bear Claw team.  In this case, maybe too rested.  Before Kaden could get settled in from the long break, the colonials struck 3 times on him.  Brian found Jay for the first goal, Bob found Jay for the 2nd goal and Brian found Bob for the 3rd goal.   In what felt like a game the colonials could very well lose, they quickly found themselves up 3-0.  To the bear claw credit, they slowly worked their way back into the game and actually led 5-4 in the late stages of the 2nd period.  It was the only time the colonials trailed in either game last night.  Brice Miller scored twice for the bear claw including a really nice goal to end the 2nd period to tie the game at 6.  Anthony made a perfect pass to Miller in front of the net and Miller buried it.  The Bear Claw also scored at the end of the first period to close the gap to 4-3.  Peach had a shot denied but Vinnie batted it in to get the bear claw to within 4-3.   It felt like one of those games where the bear claw would score late at the end to win it, but surprisingly, the colonials had a big 3rd period and their goalie John Matchock shut the door on any chance of a bear claw rally.  While he preferred to skate last night, Matchock played a big role in both the colonial wins last night.   With the colonial/bear claw game tied at 6, the colonials scored 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd period to give themselves another shot at the knights.  Phil Mace got the scoring started in the 3rd period while Bob scored twice on good passing from Brian and Jay with Phil doing everything but getting the ball past the line (Brian tapped it past) on the colonials 10th and final goal.  The team used a more defensive approach as the 3rd period went on with the lead and without legs.   We would like to thank the bear claw for playing in the league this season.  It took everything the colonials had to get past what resembled Mayhem and Mayhem 2.0 last night.  A rough start and rough finish plagued the bear claw in this game.   The mercy rule win against the walkers in the 2nd period may have come back to haunt them a little considering the long wait in between games.  The walkers were playing ironman which was too much for them to overcome.  While they were able to get some quality wins last season, including a play in game win, they were not able to follow up on that this season despite a competitive roster.  Like the colonials, they weren’t always able to get a full team to show up.  Steve Hetrick said he will look forward to putting another team together next season.  We would like to thank him and the walkers for playing this season.  The Hounds were put together just before the season started.  They had some pretty tough games early in the season, but they saved their best for the last month of the season. 

Steve Hetrick ----- Walkers

1. 13-1 loss to the bear claw last night. What do you think went wrong for you guys?

2. Did it bring back bad memories of the opening night loss you had of them?

3. The team had a good roster and was competitive for the most part, but did not find the win column. How would you summarize the season overall?

4. You have been playing hockey for quite a while but are taking the summer off from the sounds of it. You getting a little burnt out with it at all or just got a lot going on in the summer months?

5. Walkers have had teams assembled for a while now. What was this particular group like compared to some of the other ones you have had?

I'm not going to prioritize the questions, but instead just really say that I appreciate the team and the effort as a whole. No we didn't find the Win column this season but that doesn't mean we played bad at all this season either. Ultimately we had another amazing Walkers team and I'm proud of all of them. And appreciate them playing this season. We will continue to grow and look forward to next season as well. I will be taking this summer off to focus on some things but will be down to Brockway to support teams and individual players as well. Thanks again for organizing another year of the XHL and will be looking forward to playing again next season. Good luck to the remaining teams.