Invaders and Colonials Take Game 1

Invaders 11  Eagles 4

Bye weeks can sometimes affect momentum going into the playoffs, but that was not the case for the Invaders last night.   At first, it looked like it may.  Zac Gray made a return from a 5 week absence for the Eagles and immediately made his presence known when he scored just 15 seconds into the game.  It felt like a double whammy for the Invaders since Gray was making his return on the opposite side while Brandon Reiter’s availability was unknown due to a softball obligation.  Clint got himself settled into the game after allowing a quick goal and made some good saves to prevent the Eagles from gaining anymore momentum.  With Brandon Reiter still away from the court, Zach Smith stepped up by scoring a power play goal midway through the first period to tie the game at 1.     Later in the first period, Smith intercepted a pass and put a nice shot past Eagles goalie Clay Halpin to put the Invaders up 2-1 at the end of the first period.   A 2-1 lead after the 1^st period turned into a 7-2 lead by the time the 2^nd period ended.  Brandon Reiter got a shift or two in at the end of the first period and worked himself into the game by scoring two, 2^nd period goals.  His 1^st goal put the Invaders up 3-1.   The Eagles closed the gap to 3-2 when Denny scored on a nice rebound after Clint saved a shot from Eric Llewellyn.    The Eagles momentum was short lived as Brandon Reiter scored soon after to make it 4-2 and Reiter later set Zach Smith up for a goal to widen the lead to 5-2.   Late in the 2^nd period, the Invaders converted another power play when Laken set Jason Stamler up for a goal and Andy later scored for the Invaders to widen the lead to 7-2 going into the 3^rd period.  Early in the 3^rd period, Andy set Zach Smith up for a goal to make it 8-2 before Larry scored for the Eagles to cut the lead to 8-3.  Andy would later score to make it 9-3 while Cory scored to make it 10-3.   The Invaders still have not lost since the Eagles beat them way back in Mid January.  That probably feels like a decade ago now.  We will post next week’s schedule as soon as we know more.  Adam and Braxton already mentioned that they will not be available for their game against the Colonials until later in the evening due to baseball.  We will work on a plan for next week later today.   

Colonials 9  Yeti 8

This felt like one of those games where the lead would have changed 10 more times if we would have kept playing for a while.   We had many lead changes, many momentum turns and many big plays throughout the game.  Before the game, Bob forewarned his team that Adam is always tougher to score on in the playoffs.  That was not the case for Bob last night.  By the time the game ended, the fire department should have come to spray off his stick.  Early in the game, Zach Foradori put the Yeti up 1-0 but the Colonials later tied it at 1 when Bob set Brian up for the Colonials 1^st goal.  It took them a little while to score on Adam, but they were able to get a lot of good scoring chances throughout the game.  Both teams would get their share of scoring chances throughout the game.  Bob scored the colonials 2^nd goal to put them up 2-1 before Dave Jewell scored for the Yeti to tie the game at 2.   The colonials went ahead 3-2 following Noah’s 1^st of 2 goals on the night.   RJ had a big 2^nd period for the Yeti by scoring 3 times with one of his goals coming on a nice set up from Matt Jewell.    The Yeti took the biggest lead of the game midway through the 2^nd period finding themselves up 5-3 before Jay Edminston scored to close the gap to 5-4 and Bob would score again to tie it at 5.   The game kept going back and forth from there.  Dave Jewell had another goal for the Yeti to put them up 6-5 but Bob was scoring from everywhere for the Colonials.  On one sequence, the colonials had a 2 on 1 chance with Dave Jewell playing the pass perfectly, but Bob put a wrister by Adam.  It was one of his 5 goals on the night with Noah scoring twice, Brian once and Jay once.  The 3^rd period was no different, with each team exchanging goals.  Zach Foradori scored his 2^nd goal of the night to tie the game at 7 but Bob would later score again to make it 8-7 before Ben Rossi batted in a rebound to tie the game at 8 with about 5 minutes to go in the 3^rd period.  With the game tied at 8, Noah batted in a shot with about 4 minutes to go to put the Colonials ahead 9-8 and believe it or not,  there were no more lead changes after that.   Both goalies (Adam and Match) were busy.  They both had their share of good saves as well as a couple they would like to have back, but it was back and forth game for each team.  Will game 2 be the same way?  We will announce a more definite plan for next week later tonight.  RJ had 3 goals for the Yeti while Dave Jewell and Zach Foradori had 2 goals.  Ben Rossi was limited to just a goal but it was the biggest goal of the game until Noah scored the game winner. 

Noah (Colonials)

1. 9-8 win over the Yeti last night. What can you say about the overall team effort in the win?  I think that the team effort was really good. sometimes we got caught sleeping but in general i think we did very well.  

2. You had the game winner ----- Take us through that play? Bob and I were coming down on a two on 1 and he fed me a one timer. Adam caught a little bit of it with his shoulder and it went to the corner. I picked my head up before getting the ball and seen he wasn’t in position yet so i spun really quickly and shot it into the back of the net.

3. Invaders ended up blowing out the Eagles. What kind of game do you expect next week when the Eagles face elimination? . I think both teams could win on any night and i think it will be a little closer of a game.

4. They held you to two goals but you guys still won. How nice was it to see Bob have one of his big goal scoring nights? It was really nice seeing bob take over on the scoring sheet while i had a rough game. I felt sort of sick all day and I knew it was gonna be a rough one from the start but it was really good having a player like bob to cover for me slacking when it happens.

5. Adam is always tough in the playoffs especially when they really need him to be good. What kind of game are you expecting from him and his team next week? The game next week is gonna be another good game i think. I really hope I feel a little better next week so i can make more of an impact on the game but i am expecting a good challenge.

Zach Smith (Invaders)

1. 11-4 win over the Eagles last night. What can you say about the overall team effort in the win? I thought we played a very composed game. They had some spurts of momentum a few times, but I thought we did a good job of taking it back in a short amount of time.

2. You guys had a big 2nd period. What do you think you guys did better in the 2nd period than in the 1st period?  I think we were connecting on our passes more after being off for 2 weeks. We found our legs and hounded their defense and created turnovers that led to scoring opportunities.

 3. You had a couple power play opportunities. How do you think you guys did on them? We did alright. We scored on the one. I can't remember, but I think we scored on the second as well. It was a big momentum swing when we scored the first powerplay to go up 2-1. Hopefully we can continue to capitalize on our opportunities

4. Were you afraid a week off would hurt your momentum and what was your thought after they scored a goal 15 seconds into the game? . I don't like bye weeks to begin with. I don't think it hurt us going into the game. I didn't battle hard enough on the wall out of the gate and that led to a sneaky shot that unfortunately went in. You can't let that dwell in your mind, and I don't think anybody let it. That shows what a resilient group we have.

5. How do you compare your role on this team compared to the role you had playing on the yeti the past couple of seasons?   I don't think about my role when I'm out there. I just go and have fun no matter who I'm playing with. I try to be wary of people strengths and what I can do to put myself in a position to help them with those strengths or pick up the slack from the weaknesses.