Standings after January 29th games:
1. Knights 8 (45/9)
2. Colonials 7 (31/18)
3. Yeti 4 (33/24)
4. Eagles 4 (28/22)
5. Mayhem 4 (22/22)
6. Jawas 2 (15/27)
7. Walkers 2 (18/39)
8. Hounds 2 (15/43)
Knights 15 Hounds 5 (Did not watch any of this game)
If you looked at the interviews from last week, Andy had a change to make for one of his answers. We asked him about what has led to the Knights early season dominance. He said he looks for bigger challenges once some of the teams gain more chemistry together. The Hounds wont be expected to compete for a championship this season but they appear to be getting better each week. After a disappointing 9-2 loss against the Jawas to start the season and 13-1 mercy rule loss to the Colonials the following week, they were able to pick up their first win against the Walkers last week and they followed it up with a good effort against the Knights. The Chesley’s (Brenden and Mark) led the way in goals last night. The Knights found themselves up 6-2 at the end of the first period and 10-3 by the time the 2nd period had ended. Rooster made his season debut last night for the Knights. Knights goalie Clint Lingenfelter said that his team had a good balance in scoring last night. Noah Kline had 3 goals, Nate Galentine had 5 goals, Jake Kline had 2 and Andy had 5. The knights will take on the Jawas next week while the Hounds get their first meeting of the season against the Mayhem.
Yeti 9 Mayhem 2
A big 2nd period helped the Yeti earn its 2nd win of the season. Tyler Waltman scored early in the 2nd period for the Mayhem to close the gap to 3-1 but the Yeti would score 5 unanswered goals to go ahead 8-1 by the end of the 2nd period. Jason Stamler would eventually stop the bleeding for the Mayhem when he scored in the later stages of the 3rd period but the deficit was too much to overcome by then. Each team scored once in the 3rd period. The Yeti found themselves up 3-0 by the end of the first period with their 3rd goal coming off a nice finish from Derik Day in front of the net. They had pretty balanced scoring throughout the game including one from Steve Kalgren during that 2nd period run. Kalgren’s goal made it 6-1 and there was no looking back. Mayhem had Derrian in net for the 2nd time this season. The Yeti will look to keep their momentum going against the Eagles next week while the Mayhem will look to bounce back against the Hounds. Both the Yeti and Mayhem find themselves with 4 points in the regular season standings.
Colonials 7 Eagles 5
Just before the opening faceoff, Bob Anderson said that he was expecting to take the Eagles best shot, but he probably wasn’t expecting his team to be down 1-0 just 15 seconds into the game. Eric Llewellyn won the opening faceoff gaining plenty of separation from any colonial defender to put his team up 1-0. The game would remain 1-0 for about 7 minutes until Denny Stinchcomb took a pass from Brian Anderson at center court, taking the ball the rest of the way to beat Eagles goalie Henry Sutter to tie the game at 1. Eric Llewellyn would later score his 2nd goal of the period to put the Eagles up 2-1 before Phil Mace scored for the colonials to tie the game at 2 late in the 1st period. Just as the first period ended, Jerred Amick put the Eagles ahead 3-2. The 2nd period ended up making the difference in the game for the Colonials as they went from being down 3-2 to being up 6-3 going into the 3rd period. Denny Stinchcomb played a big part of the Colonials success in the 2nd period. He started out the period by making a good pass to Brian Anderson in front of the net to tie the game at 3. A couple minutes later, Brian Anderson batted in a shot that was initially saved by Henry Sutter to put the Colonials ahead 4-3 before Stinchcomb scored again to put the Colonials ahead 5-3. Late in the 2nd period, some more good passing from the Colonials helped them gain a 6-3 lead when Bob Anderson finished in front of the net. The Eagles controlled the majority of the 3rd period but John Matchock made sure they would get no closer than 2 goals. Austin Boyd was able to get one by John Matchock about 5 minutes into the 3rd period to close the gap to 2 but Denny Stinchcomb and the Colonials would score again to go up 7-4. Jerred Amick would later score his 2nd goal of the night to close the gap to 7-5 but they were unable to get any closer. The win puts the Colonials up to 7 points in the standings with a game against the Walkers coming up next week. The tough road continues for the Eagles when they go up against the Yeti next week at 6. The Colonials will be without Kevin Smith next week.
Walkers 10 Jawas 6
We are only 4 weeks into the season, but each of the 8 teams have now come away with at least one win. The Walkers did not make it easy on themselves by getting behind again, but a late 2nd period charge and a big 3rd period helped them earn their first win of the season. Tony Dodd was not able to make it last night opening up the door for Joe Spencer to fill in net for a 3rd different team this season. His leadership ability and solid play in net has gone a long way in each of the teams picking up wins. While there were 16 goals scored in this game, believe it or not, it took over 11 minutes for anyone to score. Jawas leader Adam McKinley set Laken Dodd up in front of the net to put the Jawas ahead 1-0. McKinley later made a nice pass to Derik Pearce to put the Jawas ahead 2-0 before Corey Bassett scored on a nice backhander to close the gap to 2-1. Just as the first period ended, Joe Roush scored for the Jawas to put them ahead 3-1 going into the 2nd period. Adam McKinley scored on the opening faceoff of the 2nd period to put the Jawas ahead 4-1 but the Walkers slowly inched their way back. Derrian Matchock, Brice Miller and Troy Gaydosh each played a role in their 2nd period charge. With the game tied at 4, the Jawas scored back to back goals. The first goal was scored when Erika Dodd took the ball the length of the court getting just enough on her shot to beat Joe Spencer in net to put the Jawas ahead 5-4. Jeff Wehner scored in front of the net off of a nice pass to make it 6-4 but the Walkers scored twice at the end of the first period including another buzzer beater from Corey Bassett to tie the game at 6 going into the 3rd period. Neither team scored for a while in the 3rd period until Brice Miller scored in the later stages of the 3rd period. The Jawas had a chance to go up just before that when a shot that was initially saved by Joe Spencer found its way to Adam McKinley. McKinley’s backhand attempt just got over the net which kept the game tied at that time. Following Brice Miller’s go ahead goal, the Walkers momentum kept going when Brice Miller set Derrian Matchock up for his 2nd goal of the night to put the walkers up 8-6. From there, it was Corey Bassett finishing off the win for the Walkers with 2 insurance goals in the closing minute or two. Bassett finished the game with 4 goals to lead the Walkers to their first win of the season. Both teams will have tough tasks next week. The Jawas will get the Knights and the Walkers will get the Colonials.
Joe Roush (Jawas)
1. 10 to 6 loss to the walkers tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? Team effort was okay, I just hope everyone had fun.
2. You and several others contributed goals to put your team ahead 6 to 4 at one point. How do you think overall team chemistry looked considering you guys haven’t a complete squad until tonight? With that being only my second game with the group myself, I think there needs to be more communication on who plans on being where. Positioning is sloppy, so to answer the question directly, not good.
3. You guys weren’t able to score in the 3rd period. What do you think went wrong offensively? Poor passing leads to giving up possession and we did a lot of that, but it goes back to the poor positioning.
4. This was the walkers first win. What was your impression of their play tonight? I thought the teams were pretty balanced, so there was that. They just got the better chances in the third period.
5. Got any predictions for the super bowl? I was hoping for a Bills vs Lions match up for something different but I didn't get that. Therefore, anyone but the Chiefs. A better prediction would be the under/over on how many seconds Taylor Swift gets on screen.
Steve Pompeii (Yeti)
1. 9 to 2 win tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort tonight? I think we are getting better as a team. We were starting to control the ball better and that lead to good things.
2. You guys pulled away in the 2nd period. What do you think you guys did better as the game went on? We spent more time in their zone. Once we established that everything started to gel. We just have to be more mindful of our defensive structure. We gave up more odd man rushes than we would like. I think we tighten up that and we’re going to be in good shape. The season is still young and we have some time to build some chemistry together.
3. Mayhem have played well to start the season. What kind of game were you expecting going into it? . I haven’t seen them play until last night. They played well. Wasn’t really expecting anything. We did enough to come away with the W
4. You haven’t been able to play much hockey recently, what’s it been like to get back out there the last couple weeks? It’s been rough. But I’m glad to make it back and get some hockey under my belt. I still have some rust to shake off. But the more i play the easier that should be. Time will tell.
5. Got any super bowl predictions? Well i was hoping for the Lions to be in it, since that’s not happening I really don’t care who wins. I’ll throw a dart, chiefs 31 49er’s 28. Taylor swift wins the MVP.
Steve Hetrick (Walkers)
1. 10-6 win over the Jawas tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort tonight? It was definitely a back and forth kind of game and we got down a couple goals as well. I think the game tying goal with 2 seconds to go in the end of the second period set us up for the win in the third.
2. Corey was a final week addition to the roster. What can you say about his 4 goal effort tonight? Corey has been doing fantastic week in and week out. He was actually the one that tied the game up at 6 with seconds left in the second period. I even told him tonight that I was glad he found his shot again. Normally he likes to pass and set plays up instead of taking a shot of his own. He's a great skater as well and does a great job on the back check as well.
3. Joe was a big reason why you guys lost last week. How do you think he did filling in for you guys tonight? Joe did a great job for us tonight. He definitely stonewalled us last week and held his own for us in our game as well tonight. Glad he was able to fill in and help us get our first win of the season.
4. You guys started slow again tonight but came on as the game went on. What do you think you guys did better in the 2nd part of the game? . I'm not sure if we actually come out with a game plan for any game, we kinda fly by the seat of our pants. It might be our downfall, but I have definitely seen some players playing really well together the last couple games and making our team more competitive against the rest in the league.
5. It’s only one win but what does a 3 goal comeback win do for your team spirit going forward? We definitely had some rough games at the beginning of the season and on paper we should've won last week as well... But I have confidence that we will get a couple more wins before the season is over. Another great group of players are on this walkers team and we seem to finally be settling in. Definitely proud of all of them.
Alex Waddell (Eagles)
1. 7-5 loss to the colonials last night. What can you say about the overall team effort? There really wasn’t much effort. Not skating hard or winning battles. Giving up on the play. We aren’t going to win the big games playing like we have been.
2. The game got away in the 2nd period. What do you think went wrong in that part of the game? I think like I said above we just didn’t have the effort and fell apart in the second.
3. Any positives to take out of these last 2 weeks? I’d rather have these issues and work through them now than in the playoffs. We’re a better team than we have been showing. We have had a few good moments but need to get back to playing at the level we are capable of. I’m confident we will get there.
4. Yeti next week. What kind of game are you expecting from them? They are going to come hard like always it won’t be an easy game but hopefully we can get out of this slump and pick up a win.
5. Got any super bowl predictions? Who does Taylor Swift play again? 30-27 49ers
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