Standings after February 5th Games
1. Knights 10 (51/9)
2. Colonials 9 (44/25)
3. Yeti 6 (38/26)
4. Mayhem 6 (31/26)
5. Eagles 4 (30/27)
6. Jawas 2 (15/33)
7. Walkers 2 (25/52)
8. Hounds 2 (19/52)
Announcement: We will be having a draft style ironman tournament on Thursday, March 28th at the rink. Message me if you are interested in playing. It will be a similar format to the Christmas tournament we had. $10 a person starting around 5 p.m.
Yeti 5 Eagles 2
For anyone who missed this game: There were more penalties than goals. In the end, the Yeti were able to overcome a slow start in the first period and do just enough with their power play to pick up their 3rd win of the season. Eric Llewellyn scored the first goal of the game, but the Yeti would go on to score the next 5 goals, including two, 2nd period goals from RJ as they did a good job of crashing the net on some of those goals. The Eagles spent a good part of the 2nd period and early 3rd period trying to kill penalties. They were able to capitalize on a 4 on 2 power play of their own in the 3rd period to close the deficit to 3 goals (Boyd had the goal), but Adam McKinley made some big saves throughout the game when he needed too. The Eagles only allowed one goal in 9 minutes or so of killing penalties. The win puts the Yeti in 3rd place in the standings with 6 points. They will play the Jawas next week. Which team will Adam McKinley play for? The Eagles will look to snap a 3 game losing streak when they go up against the Hounds next week. The Yeti were playing without Dave Jewell while the Eagles were playing without Cody Schuckers.
Colonials 13 Walkers 7
The Colonials never trailed in this game, but the Walkers did everything they could to make the Colonials earn a win last night. It took over half the first period for the Colonials to get their first goal. Tony Dodd was not able to play last week but the week off did not seem to affect his play. Denny Stinchcomb scored a break away goal to open up the scoring for the Colonials. The game would remain 1-0 until around the 4 minute mark of the first period when Bob Anderson set Brian Anderson up for a goal to make it 2-0. Derrian Matchock snuck one by his dad on a faceoff win to close the gap to 2-1 at the end of the first period. The Colonials would score the next 2 goals. The first goal came on another set up from Bob Anderson to Brian Anderson and Denny Stinchcomb scored on a nice pass from Bob Anderson to make it 4-1. Anytime it looked like the Colonials would start pulling away, the Walkers had answers. With the score 4-1, Brice Miller and Derrian Matchock were battling for a loose ball in front of the net. While neither of them directly scored the goal, they did enough to make the ball go off Phil Mace’s skate in front of the net to close the gap to 4-2. Denny Stinchcomb and Bob Anderson each scored late 2nd period goals to push the Colonials lead to 7-3 going into the 3rd period. Thanks to some goal scoring from Troy Gaydosh, the Walkers closed the 3rd period deficit to 2 late in the 3rd period. One of Gaydosh’s 4 goals came just seconds after a Colonials penalty (Terwilliger) to close the gap to 8-6. Bob Anderson had extended the Colonials lead to 8-4 on a set up from Brian Anderson before the Walkers answered with their 2 goals. Phil Mace had a bunch of scoring chances turned down throughout the game but he was finally able to get one past Walkers goalie Tony Dodd to extend the Colonials lead late in the 3rd period. He would end up scoring another in the Colonials late 3rd period charge to put the game away. Denny Stinchcomb scored a couple goals in the closing minute or so of the game and set Brian Anderson up for a goal to close out the game. The Colonials did a lot of their damage late in the 3rd period when Walkers goalie Tony Dodd ran out of gas. The win puts the Colonials at 2nd place in the standings with 9 points with the Knights waiting on them next week. The Walkers will get their first meeting of the season against the Mayhem next week at 6 p.m. These two teams played some very competitive games against one another last season.
Knights 6 Jawas 0
Another shut out for Knights goalie Clint Lingenfelter. The Jawas were playing without their goalie Kaden Coulter (illness) which opened the door for Adam McKinley to play in net. Andy Calvert and the Knights agreed to let Zach Smith take McKinley’s normal skate out role on the Jawas. While both transitions made the game more competitive, the Jawas were still unable to find a way to put a goal on the board. John Matchock had a penalty shot opportunity turned down in the 3rd period. Jeff Wehner and Zach Smith each had their share of chances to score throughout the game but neither could find a way to break the shut out. Despite the shutout, the Jawas played a scrappy game and were only down 3-0 going into the 3rd period. Brandon Reiter scored early in the first period to make it 1-0. The Knights were up 2-0 at the end of the first period but extended the lead to 3-0 late in the 2nd period when Brandon Reiter found Noah Kline open in front of the net. Reiter scored early in the 3rd period to push the lead to 4. The Knights are now 5-0 on the season and have outscored their opponents 51 to 9. Clint has already recorded 2 shutouts. The Jawas have now lost 4 in a row following their opening night win over the Hounds. The Knights will play the Colonials for the first time since their September SRHL championship game.
Mayhem 9 Hounds 4
Peach did the chicken dance just before the opening faceoff of the 3rd period. The shirts are getting more impressive by the week and they are still getting good goal tending from whoever they get to play in net. This was Derrian’s 3rd time in net for them and his first win of the season as their goalie. We asked Joe Spencer to play net for the Mayhem next week since they play the Walkers (Derrian skates out for them). The Hounds got off to an early 1-0 lead on a nice shot from Brenden Chesley. Chesley would later add another impressive goal in the 3rd period. Mark Chesley scored early in the first period for the Hounds as well. The tone of this game was set when the Mayhem scored 3 unanswered goals in the first period to turn a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 lead after the first period. Jason Stamler found the back of the net in that first period stretch. Tony Dodd filled in for the Hounds but may have emptied his tank in his earlier game against the Colonials. Chris Snyder was unable to be there for the Hounds last night. The Mayhem got a good balance of scoring throughout the game. Tyler Waltman and Tyler Stitt each stood out in the win. Stitt’s goal in the 3rd period pushed the lead to 9-4. Peach was pleased with the balance of scoring for his squad. Brenden Chesley and Mark Chesley each scored twice for the Hounds. The Hounds will take on the Eagles next week while the Mayhem will get a game against the Walkers. If only Derrian could skate and goalie at the same time?
Brian Anderson (Colonials)
1.The Walkers made the game very competitive last night. What were your overall thoughts on the game? It was actually a fun game to be a part of. I was really impressed with how they played. We may have scored 13 goals, but Dodd played a solid game in net for them. I think 5 of those goals came in the final couple minutes when he was out of gas. It seemed like every time we got a 3 or 4 goal lead, they would respond to keep it interesting. If they play like they did last night, they will come away with some more wins before the season is over.
2. You've been pitching in quite a few goals so far this season. Are you happy with how you are playing right now? I bought a couple new sticks after the Yeti game a couple weeks ago. I think those $30 sticks gave me a spark. If only I could buy a couple new legs to go with the sticks. I am happy to be contributing. We seem to be getting it together. Hopefully our game against the Knights wont spoil our momentum.
3. The Colonials are notoriously slow starters. Do you feel like your team is starting to play better hockey? How do you feel going into the Knights game next week? We are. I was really happy with how we played against the Eagles last week and our come back win over the Yeti a couple weeks ago. We have had some lapses on defense but we have been responding to adversity pretty well. As far as the Knights, I have seen them outscore the Yeti and Eagles 23-2. We beat both those teams by a combined 3 goals. We will have to play a pretty flawless game to have a chance but I think we are playing them at a good time considering the momentum we have going for us. 4. Speaking of the Knights, they have set themselves apart as the clear favorites to start the season. What makes them so good, and if you were a betting man, do you see them losing any games this season? They play as a team and they each know their role within the team. Brandon and Andy are obviously their main guys but Jake and Cory are excellent defensive players who can contribute some offense as well. Noah is already a top 10 player in the league and Nate and Rooster are perfect role players. I don’t know if any of them go past the 2nd round in a draft league. Even if you beat their defense, there is Clint in net. He is a big reason why they won the SRHL Championship game back in September. I do think they will lose once or twice. There are some good teams in this league and its hard to go undefeated. I am sure their main focus is a championship and not thinking much of going undefeated.
5. The Mayhem have had a really good start to the season and beat the Colonials in the first game. Have they been the biggest surprise of the season so far? If not, who has? I think they have been actually. Trent is supposed to be coming soon which will make them even better. They play very well positionally on defense and Derrian has played really well in net. I hope they can keep it going.
Zach Smith (Yeti plus he filled in for the Jawas last night)
1. 5 to 2 win over the eagles tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? I thought we started out slow in the first, but we picked up our game starting in the second period. Adam made some key saves for us to keep them away from striking distance. We had our skating legs tonight when, in some other games, maybe we looked slow
2. Lots of penalties on both sides. How do you think the power play looked along with the penalty kill? . It was alright. I don't remember exactly, but I think we only scored once on 9 or so minutes of powerplay time. I think having dave on the point would have maybe helped us out in those situations. Our kill looked good for what we had to defend. They did score on a 4 on 2, but we killed off the other two chances they had.
3. You guys limited them to 2 goals. How do you think you guys were able to hold them down like that? Adam made some huge saves for us at key times. Equally important, we had two guys back for most of the game and didn't get caught in the offensive zone.
4. No Dave Jewell tonight for you guys, no Cody for them. What kind of game were you expecting going into it? I thought it would be low scoring with two key guys being out and the high-end goaltending on each side. Both teams had chances. However, we seemed to capitalize on our rebounds by crashing the net, which is normally how you beat the best goalies in the league.
5. You filled in for the Jawas against the knights tonight. Do you think anyone in the league is going to have a chance to compete with them as the season goes on? Anybody is beatable in this league. The knights are going to be a tough nut to crack, it seems. It's hard enough beating clint with how he is playing, but just getting shots on him is also a challenge with the group they have there. The difference with them is that they have the skill to finish on their odd man rushes compared to other teams and that usually is the difference. I believe we had 4 or 5 breakaways against them last night, and clint stopped all of them. If you give the knights 4 or 5 breakaways a game, the score can get out of hand real fast, as has been seen with most of the games involving them this year.
Jason Stamler (Mayhem)
1. 9 to 4 win tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? The team played awesome tonight
2. The game was tied early then you guys got on a roll. What do you think you guys did better at as the game went on? We played our game. Couple hiccups but we stayed focused on want we had to do
3. You guys are dressing in style this season. What’s your opinion of those shirts you guys get to wear every Monday night? I like them. You can breathe in them
4. What was your impression of the hounds? They are very good. There young and fast. Just need more time to play with each other.
5. Biggest question. What’s your super bowl prediction? I’m going 49ers 27-24.
Henry Sutter (Eagles)
1. Another tough night for the eagles. What was your overall observation of tonight’s game? We’re not playing to the best of our abilities right now. Nothing seems to be working for us. Everyone seems to be giving us their best shot, and we’re not responding well.
2. 3 losses in a row now. What positives can you take out of this tough stretch? The only positive I can find is that we’re all healthy. If we had lost players in the middle of this stretch, we’d be in worse shape.
3. You guys were without Cody and they were without Dave Jewell. What kind of game were you expecting going into it? I was expecting the game to be a lot closer. They jumped ahead and we never found our footing.
4. How do you think your power play kill and power play looked tonight? The power play was an extension of our offense. Something is off, and we need a complete reset. We fared well enough on the kill, but we were on it for about 9 minutes between the second and third periods.
5. You guys cruised last season only to lose both playoff games. Do you think these losses could actually be beneficial in the long run? I’m hoping so. If there’s any silver lining to this, I’m open to it. We need to make sure we get in, first. I’d imagine we’re outside looking in with lots of work to do to make the playoffs. Don’t count us out yet, though.
Troy Gaydosh (Walkers)
1. What can you say about your overall team effort tonight? We've definitely gotten better the last few weeks.
2. They had the lead the whole way but never pulled away until the very end. What does a game like this do for your overall team confidence? "They"? You mean your team Brian ? 😜😜Anyways, it felt like we were in it till a few minutes left. We were down 4-1 last week and came back and won, so as long as it's close we got a chance. After the 2nd it was 3-7, and I thought "well if we can just keep them at 7", we'll get 4 goals in less than 15 minutes no problem. Ironically we got to 7, but you guys put a few more in too.
3. You scored 4 times in the game. Are you starting to feel good about how you are fitting in with the team and in the league? . Tonight was pretty lucky/flooky. I don't have a great shot, so I'm often looking to set up a teammate with a better pass rather than score myself. Some of those goals were just instances of just taking the best shot available.
4. What was your impression of the opposition tonight? It's bizarre compared to my ice league which is 5 on 5 and a much larger regulation playing surface. Every team we've played plays different at times. The 3rd one in often has to decide whether to be aggressive or stay back and support on defense. I thought Bob would rush more and use his speed like in our draft league, but I guess Denny and you kinda provided more offense.
5. Got any super bowl predictions? At the start of the playoffs I had Ravens over Niners. Niners are the better team in this game, but it wouldn't surprise me if Mahomes pulls off another one. And like Superbowl 54, it could be a come-from-behind victory.
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