Standings after January 22nd games:
1. Knights 6 (30/4)
2. Colonials 5 (24/13)
3. Eagles 4 (23/15)
4. Mayhem 4 (20/13)
5. Yeti 2 (24/22)
6. Jawas 2 (15/27)
7. Hounds 2 (10/28)
8. Walkers 0 (8/33)
Mayhem 14 Jawas 3 (Only saw the last period)
This was a close game for nearly 2 periods, but things quickly went south for the Jawas. They trailed 3-1 at the end of the first period and were only down 4-3 in the later stages of the 2nd period, then it all went crashing down. The Mayhem fired several shots at Jawas goalie Kaden Coulter throughout the game. While Kaden played well for over half the game, the Mayhem started to capitalize on some higher percentage chances. A 7-3 lead after 2 periods spread all the way to 14-3. We even lost track of who scored all the goals for the Mayhem. Vinnie Deloia and Anthony Schuckers appeared to lead the way but they had help from the Tylers (Stitt and Waltman). The Jawas only had one sub which probably led to things getting away as quick as they did. The Mayhem are dressing in style for those who did not see their fancy shirts last night and they are benefiting from steady play from their goalies. Henry Sutter stole the show in their week 1 upset over the Colonials and Derrian Matchock kept them to within striking distance over the Knights last week. Derrian said that he would not be able to get to the game by 6 last night opening up the door for Joe Spencer to fill in as their goalie. Joe Spencer picked up where Henry and Derrian left off when playing goalie for the Mayhem. He played so well that one of his own teammates contributed to one of the goals he gave up. Nonetheless, Peach is making the right moves with shirt colors and player personnel this season. Can they keep it going against the Yeti next week? In an interview with Peach following the game, I thought they were playing the Walkers next week. They will get their opportunity with them in 3 weeks. See below to see what Peach had to say in anticipation of their games against the Walkers later this season.
Hounds 7 Walkers 6
Chris Snyder was unable to make it for the Hounds last night which opened up another opportunity for Joe Spencer to play goalie. He didn’t hesitate when asked if he could goalie this game. While the Hounds played well, its safe to say that Spencer’s presence in net was the difference in this game. The Walkers nearly completed a 3rd period comeback which at one time found themselves down by 4 goals, but any hope of a tying goal fell just short. Brice Miller and Corey Bassett had chances for the Walkers as the game came to a close, but could not find a way to get another one by Joe Spencer. With the game 7-3, Corey Bassett scored twice for the Walkers to close the gap to 7-5 and Derrian Matchock scored on a nice setup from Troy Gaydosh to make it a one goal game with plenty of time remaining for a potential tying goal, but they fell just short at the end. The Hounds were missing Erika Dodd, Kyle Dilling and Brenden Chesley but they appeared to have more energy than the Walkers had in the first period. If not for some solid play from Walkers goalie Tony Dodd and a bat flying around the court, the Hounds could have easily scored 3 or 4 more times in the first period. They never trailed in this game and were led offensively by Cody Haag (3 goals). Andrew Britton scored a really nice goal going forehand backhand infront of the net after getting tripped up. Mark Chesley scored 2 goals, with one of them scored just before the game had to be stopped for bat removal. Garrett Britton scored a goal as well. The Walkers inched closer in the 2nd period with goals from Steve Hetrick and Derrian Matchock but the Hounds had answers throughout the 2nd period. Unfortunately, they will have to follow up on their first win of the season with a game against the Knights next week. According to the standings, the Knights have outscored their opponents 30-4 to start the season with 2 of those wins coming against teams that are expecting to compete with them for a championship. The Walkers will get their first meeting of the season with the Jawas next week.
Knights 12 Eagles 0
With the emergence of Noah Kline and a returning core from last season’s xhl and srhl championship teams, the Knights will be expected to win their share of games this season. After watching them mercy rule the Eagles early in the 3rd period last night, is it safe to say that the rest of the league will be playing for 2nd place? One of the refs in that game, Bob Anderson, who should have been feeling good after leading the Colonials to a one goal win last night, sent out a text to his teammates this morning wanting to talk about the Knights 12-0 mercy rule victory last night. The Colonials will get the Eagles next week at 740, but after watching a team as good as them get mercy ruled by the Knights early in the 3rd period last night, their question was ----- “how is anyone going to have a chance to beat the Knights this season?” The Eagles, Colonials and the rest of the league have a couple months to figure something out. We expected this game to go down to the wire, like their 2 regular season games last season, but it was all Knights from the start. They had several goals from Brandon Reiter and Andy Calvert with Noah Kline in the mix as well. Jake Kline was able to stay back and do what he does best, play defense. If anyone can get past him or Cory this season, then they will have to find a way to beat Clint. The Knights 4-0 lead after the first period stretched to 10-0 by the end of the 2nd period. The two teams will meet two more times before the regular season is over and could possibly meet in the finals. After watching the game last night, maybe a semi final playoff series loss to a team other than the Knights wont be so bad. The Hounds will get the honor of playing them next week. We asked Zach Foradori what good came out of last nights game, he simply said ------ “its over.”
Colonials 9 Yeti 8
Both these teams are trying to find their way with some new personnel on each side. The Colonials played their best period of the season to start the game but played their worst 14 minutes in the 3rd period. Luckily for them, there are 15 minutes in a period instead of 14. Phil Mace scored twice in the first period to give the Colonials an early lead. Kevin Smith scored on a nice backhander as well. With some steady scoring from Mace/Smith and one from Denny Stinchcomb, the Colonials found themselves up 7-4 at the end of the 2nd period. RJ scored twice for the Yeti including a 3rd period goal to start the 3RD period rally. Zach Smith did the majority of the scoring for the Yeti including one to tie the game at 7 with about 5 minutes to go in the 3rd period. With around 3 minutes to go, Derik Day scored on an impressive slap shot to put the Yeti ahead 8-7. Day was a minute away from earning last night’s top star considering he would have had the game winning goal, but then there was the final minute. With the Colonials in desperation mode, Kevin Smith was able to keep the ball in the Yeti zone which eventually found its way to Bob Anderson’s stick leading to the Colonials tying goal with around 30 seconds to go. Anderson and the Colonials were probably happy to just get to overtime at that point, but then they had another good chance to score with 15 seconds left leading to a faceoff. Kevin Smith was able to win the faceoff cleanly giving way for another Bob Anderson shot to get past Yeti goalie Adam McKinley to give the Colonials a 9-8 regulation win. The Yeti are now 1-2 on the season with a game against the Mayhem next week. The Colonials may have another game decided in the final seconds when they take on the Eagles next week.
Peach (Mayhem)
1. Mayhem dressed in style and played in style tonight. Who came up with the fancy shirt design? Two Brother Tees of Dubois threw these together for us. We needed to change colors to help the color blind players so I just suggested a color scheme and shared a few logo ideas. They’re the ones that buried the one-timer!
2. You guys pulled away the last half of the game. What do you think you guys did better the last part of the game? We were a little erratic and weren’t real responsible with the ball through 2-1/2 periods, that’s for sure. I think we were distracted by the new swag. We made better decisions and moved the ball much better towards the end of the second period and that led to an outbreak of scoring chances down the stretch. The boys were relentless and started hitting the net and it paid off
3. You have had 3 goalies to start the season. How do you think they have all done so far? They’ve all done marvelous for us! Each one has kept us in the game and we can’t thank them enough for standing tall! It’s a big boost for morale when your goalie makes that big save and they each had their fair share. Unfortunately Joe Spencer’s first one came against me. That’s no way to get a highlight reel save, he deserved better, lol.(Sorry Joe!)
4. Walkers next week. They are winless but played better as their game went on tonight. What do you expect from them next week? Nothing different than the last couple years. We’ve always had competitive games and I expect nothing less. Plus Steve’s got a chip on his shoulder this year because he’s jealous of my hot tub bubble bath.
5. Who do you got winning the super bowl? . I’m going with the Lions. Jared Goff for the MVP and he takes Taylor to Disneyland.
Adam McKinley (Jawa skater/Yeti Goalie)
1. 2 games ended in disappointing fashion tonight. What was your mindset after losing in the closing seconds of the last game tonight? I need to play better. I'm way better than I have shown so far against the Knights and Colonials. No offense to either team because they both are very good teams, but my game needs to be better. The game tonight should not have been that close and that's on me. I need to play better.
2. Bob snuck 2 by you at the end. What did you observe on those plays that led to his shots getting by? There was a bit of screen on the second one. It beat me glove hand on a well placed shot, which was unfortunate because my glove was on all night, up until that shot.
3. You guys turned a 3 goal deficit into a lead. What do you think you guys did better in that 3rd period? The guys found their game and didn't give up. They fought hard to get back into it, unfortunately, I couldn't stop 2 more shots. I feel like I let them down after they fought so hard.
4. What was your impression of the mayhem after playing them in your jawas skate out role? They are an underrated team for sure. Peach has a good group there.
5. 4 nfl teams left. Who do you got making it to the super bowl and winning? I'm thinking lions and chiefs, with Patrick Mahomes pulling it off again. I can't root for the Ravens because I'm a Steelers fan and the 49ers are good at choking in big games as of late.
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