February 16th

Joe Spencer (Fill in for Venom, Bear Claw and Yeti)

1. 3 games of hockey last night. How are you feeling today?  I feel great today. I appreciate the opportunity to get some work in. Wish I could’ve played better for the teams I played for but the ball is not a puck and unfortunately that’s my big downfall.

 2. Venom fell 12-4 to the yeti. How would you describe the team effort overall and what words of encouragement can you give to the regular guys (and girl) that’s on the team?  . Venom never gave up, kept fighting to the end which is all you can ask for. Tony made some nice saves for us when we had lapses in defense. If they can play 2 way hockey all game long, they will continue to improve. I appreciate them letting me join the team for a night.

 3. Bear Claw hung with the Eagles for the first part of the game. What do you think went wrong in the 2nd period when they started to pull away?   Coverage. We stopped covering guys and were letting open shots on Kaden. Kaden continues to improve him game, made some key saves early on. Once again 2 way hockey is important, have to get back and cover guys and have to capitalize on opportunities on the other end. Thank you to the Bear Claw for letting me play with them once again.

4. Considering it was each teams 2nd game, how would you describe what you saw from both the yeti and eagles in their game against one another?   Seemed to me like the Yeti kept some gas in there tank and the Eagles did not. I couldn’t understand why once the Eagles had a big lead vs Bear Claw, why they kept pushing so hard and focused on scoring and running it up when they knew they had another game to play. I would’ve probably slowed things down in the Bear Claw game once they had the 4 or 5 goal lead and made sure I was ready for the second game but they were purely focused on all Offense all the time which seems to be their biggest downfall. Yeti also played very smart defensively, lots of blocked shots which i have the bruises to prove. Really appreciate the Yeti for letting me play for them as well.

5. SRHL had another very competitive season in 2025. Do you anticipate any changes with the overall structure of the league in 2026?   SRHL 2026 has some minor rule changes but other than that looks like business as usual. I think every season of the competitive league ends up being just as competitive as the last so it’ll be another fun summer coming up.

Noah (Colonials)

1. 7-5 loss to the invaders last night. How would you describe the overall team effort in the loss?   I think the team effort overall was there we just couldn’t capitalize on certain chances that we could’ve capitalized on.

2. Despite the loss, you felt pretty good about where you stand physically after the game. Would you consider yourself close to being back to normal or do you think you still have a little way to go?   . I definitely wouldn’t consider myself back but it’s def the best i’ve felt since the start of the season. I think in the next few weeks i should be back to 100%.

 3. How do you think you and your dad have adjusted to playing for a team that needs you both to play bigger roles than you were used to having on the knights?   I’d say we adjusted to the team very well. I think we all haven’t completely adjusted the whole way yet but once we do it’ll be good.

4. Last nights game went back and forth the whole way. Do you think there were any missed opportunities from yourself or anyone else on the team in that game?  . I think there were quite a few opportunities not only from myself but a lot of others on the team.

 5. Yeti next week. It was kind of a sloppy game the first time the teams played. What kind of game do you expect this time around? . I think it’ll be a little more smooth this time around. That game was the first game we all played together and I think we’ve all gotten more chemistry as the weeks gone on and i also feel a lot better than i did then.

Jeremy Johnson (Venom)

1. 12-4 loss to the yeti last night. What can you say about the overall team effort in the loss?  Hard for me to say, only playing 2 games due to my limited availability thus far? I want to play my best for them!  

2. The first period was a tough period for you guys but you didn’t do too bad afterwards. What do you think went wrong at the beginning of the game?  Adjusting, getting use to me being newish and having Joe being added (appreciated)

3. Despite the loss, you had maybe the most impressive goal of the game. Where did that back hander come from? Closing your eyes and hoping for the best? . Trying to slow things down to my speed, not as fast as I use to be! Feel more comfortable playing D, but will pinch up on offense occasionally.

4. You are limited on how much you can play. How tough is it trying to establish an identity when you can only make a game every couple weeks? . Hardest part! Mentally I know what I was once capable of, physically is a different story.

5. What positives can you take out of the loss? (Besides your impressive back hand goal?) Felt good to add a point for us, but personally, I'd rather contribute to keep other teams out of our goal!

Standings After February 16th Games

1.      Invaders 10 (50/27)

2.      Colonials 8 (46/28)

3.      Yeti 8  (57/29)

4.      Eagles 6 (42/32)

5.      Venom 2 (38/78)

6.      Bear Claw 2 (35/74)

Invaders 7  Colonials 5

It was deja vu from their previous meeting back on January 26^th.  If not for Andy’s empty net goal in the closing seconds, it would have been the same score from their first meeting on January 26^th.    Bob got back on defense and was in prime position to stop the empty netter, but he did not have enough time to put his goalie equipment on to stop the Invaders game sealing goal.    Match was a little critical of himself for the loss, but had no reason to be.  He may still be a little upset over Andy’s goal just 30 seconds into the game.  It was just one of those cases where Match was trying to get himself settled into the game.  Zach Smith would later score to put the Invaders up 2-0 early in the first period but Match made a lot of good saves despite a couple shots knocking the wind out of him in the first period.  A ball also broke early in the first period which caused a little delay.  Match’s good saves allowed the colonials to stay in the game but it took them a while to find a way to get shots past Clint.  For the 2^nd time in a month, Clint played a big part in the Invaders win over the Colonials.  Neither colonial loss have been from lack of shots or opportunities.  Around the 5 minute mark in the first period,  after many saves from both goalies, Noah set Brian up for a nice goal to close the gap to 2-1.  A couple minutes later, Noah made another nice pass to Brian, but Clint made a nice save to keep the Invaders ahead.  Early in the 2^nd period, Phil Mace and Noah scored within a minute or so apart from one another to put the colonials up 3-2 but the invaders would go onto score the next 3 goals to go up 5-3 late in the 2^nd period.  Andy scored one of his 3 goals in the 2^nd period while Zach Smith scored one of his 3 in the 2^nd period to put the invaders ahead.    This was a game of momentum as the colonials would go on to score the next 2 goals to tie the game at 5.  Phil Mace scored his 2^nd goal of the game to close the gap to 5-4 and Bob set Noah up for the colonials 5^th and final goal to tie the game at 5.  In the 3^rd period, Brandon had a nice shot that somehow hit Cory’s stick which ended up finding the back of the net to put the invaders up 6-5.   Each team had its share of chances to score in the 3^rd period but the only other goal came on Andy’s empty netter in the closing seconds of the 3^rd period.  One of the invaders 2^nd period goal came on a power play.  It was the game’s only penalty.    The tough stretch will continue for both teams next week as the Colonials take on the Yeti while the Invaders get a 3^rd match up against the Eagles. 

Yeti 4  Eagles 2

Considering both teams were playing their 2^nd game of the night, this may not have been a true indication of where each team stands amongst one another, but the Yeti have to feel really good about where they stand following a 4-2 win last night.  They were without Ben Rossi or either of the Jewell’s.  Joe Spencer stepped in to give them another body, but this was his 3^rd game in a row.  Jeff Wehner had to come off the court a couple times to try to heal up.  Both Clay and Adam played well for their respective teams with each team playing really good defense throughout.  Some of that could have been from not having enough energy to focus more on offense.  Eric Llewellyn scored the first goal of the game in the first period to put the Eagles up 1-0 but little did they know they would go around 40 minutes without scoring again.  Late in the first period, RJ tied the game at 1.  While that was an impressive goal, RJ’s biggest highlight may have come at the intermission when he was dancing to levitating.  There weren’t many goals in this game, but Braxton found a way to score 2 of them.  His first goal put the Yeti up 2-1 and his 2^nd one sealed the game late in the 3^rd period.  Zach Foradori had a late 2^nd period goal to put the Yeti up 3-1.   Austin Boyd scored with a little over 2 minutes to go to close the Eagles deficit to 4-2 but that was as close as they would get.   This was a make up from January 26^th, a day after a lot of snow hit the area.   Adam and his team got off to a bad start in last week’s loss to the Invaders, but they avoided that last night.  These two teams will have one more game against each other in a couple weeks.  

Eagles 15  Bear Claw 5

The Bear Claw had a full squad for this game (Kaden, Jaron, Coltyn, Rob Reed, Joe Spencer, Match as a skater and AJ Cebulskie) and only found themselves down 3-2 in the 2^nd period, but the defense broke down which opened up the door for the Eagles to pull away by the time the 2^nd period ended.  Kaden made some good saves in the first period to keep his team in the game but the eagles found a way to solve their defense and Kaden to go up 9-3 after 2 periods.  Denny and Eric Llewellyn led the way offensively.   John Matchock scored just seconds into the game to put the Bear Claw up 1-0.  Clay initially made a nice save on Jaron Buffone but Match was there to get the rebound.  Coltyn had 2 goals in the game for the bear claw while AJ Cebulskie had a 3^rd period goal but they never threatened to get back in the game.  Along with Eric Llewellyn and Denny scoring their share of goals, Austin Boyd added a few as well.  After a little bit of a slow start, the Eagles found the back of the net 6 times in both the 2^nd period and 3^rd period.   The win temporarily snapped a 2 game losing streak.   

Yeti 12  Venom 4

A slow start got the best of the venom in this game, but they never gave up after going down 6-1 early in the game.  The game was tied at 1 early before the Yeti scored 5 quick ones to go up 6-1.  To Tony’s credit, he settled in after a tough start for his team and made a lot of good saves to keep the game from getting completely out of hand.  Joe Spencer filled in and added a late first period goal to stop the bleeding for the Venom.  Tyler Waltman had a first period goal as well to close the gap to 7-3.  Jeremy Johnson had a really impressive back hander for the venom but unfortunately, it only counted for one point and the deficit was still 9-4 at that time.  The Yeti were playing with a thin line up but the ones who were there connected well with one another throughout the game.  It was a good display of passing throughout which made it tough for the venom and Tony to keep up with.  Zach Foradori, Braxton, RJ and Jeff Wehner were in their line up for this game and each had a couple goals along with a lot of good passing to one another.