Standings after March 2nd Games
1. Knights 14 (79-28)
2. Yeti 14 (69-20)
3. Eagles 10 (57-26)
4. Colonials 8 (55-40)
5. Bear Claw 6 (58-64)
6. Hounds 2 (39-116)
7. Walkers 0 (31-89)
Knights 17 Hounds 5 (Mercy rule right at the end of the 3rd period)
The knights and hounds gave Bob a birthday present by letting him play in this game, but the birthday magic disappeared as the game went on. Bob focused on letting the players on the hounds roster play as much as they wanted and only stepped in when asked upon. Bubba was back in the lineup after a week off last week and didn’t play as bad as the 17 goals against indicate, but we have all seen the knights put up a lot of goals no matter who they are up against. Noah was in a little slump earlier in the season but he is out of that slump now. It was a widely scattered display of scoring for the knights in this game with Noah standing out with around 6 or 7 goals. Jason Stamler is celebrating a birthday today after scoring 3 goals in last nights game. The Hounds hung tough for a little while and only trailed 5-2 after 1 but the deficit grew to 11-3 by the end of the 2nd period. The knights clinched the mercy rule win late in the 3rd period last night. The knights have another game against the Eagles next week while the Hounds get a little break next week before going up against the bear claw on March 17th. Cody Haag led the hounds with 2 goals last night while Tyler Waltman, Jaron Buffone and Bob each added a goal.
Yeti 3 Eagles 2
This may not sound normal, but the Eagles should feel just as good about their 2 game losing streak as they did their 5 game winning streak to start the season. Last week, they were without Austin Boyd and Zac Gray but were in a position to beat the knights last week. In last nights game against the yeti, Zac Gray returned and appears to be a great fit for them after watching this game, but they were missing Jerred Amick, Josh Clontz and Alex Waddell in this game. Despite having to play ironman, they found themselves tied with a little over 2 minutes to play before RJ spoiled any chance of the eagles of at least earning a point in the standings. Zach Smith was involved in each of the yeti’s 3 goals by assisting Ben Rossi late in the first period, then scoring about 5 minutes into the 2nd period on a nice pass from Braxton and then setting RJ up for the game winner late in the 3rd period. With the yeti up 2-0 in the 2nd period, the Eagles took advantage of a Dave Jewell penalty which opened up the door for Eric Llewellyn to set Austin Boyd up for their first goal. The Eagles had another potential power play opportunity shut down early in the 3rd period after an Austin Boyd penalty (maybe the rest did him some good considering they were ironman). Both goalies played exceptionally well for their respective teams and neither gave up any goals when the teams had some more room to operate during those intermittent penalties early in the 3rd period. Zac Gray tied the game with about 5 minutes to go in the 3rd period but RJ and the yeti went ahead to stay late in the 3rd period. The yeti are currently on a 7 game winning streak and will look to make it 8 straight wins when they take on the colonials next Monday. The Eagles will look to break their 2 game losing streak and get more players in their line up in next week’s rematch with the knights.
Colonials 12 Walkers 9
Yesterday afternoon, Brian texted Bob offering to goalie this game so John Matchock could skate out. John Matchock was hoping to get more skating time this winter but has been stuck in net with Tim Herman still recovering from a shoulder injury. Brian had so much fun goalying last week that he wanted to do it again last night, but Bob said that the walkers were very capable of winning this game if they played well and said that the team better stick with Match in net. It turned out to be a good decision as the walkers played their best game of the season last night and only found themselves down 9-8 with 5 minutes to go in this game. Walkers goalie Tony Dodd was a brick wall when Phil Mace was shooting at him last night, but Mace finally got a couple shots past him late in the 3rd period to help the colonials earn the hard fought win. Jay Edmiston led the colonials in scoring last night with Bob, Brian and Phil Mace each scoring twice. Phil Mace’s 2 goals came late in the game after having several shot attempts denied earlier in the game by Tony Dodd. It was a wild 1st period with Troy Gaydosh opening up the scoring for the Walkers. 8 more goals would follow before the 1st period ended with the last goal coming from Denny Stinchcomb to put the walkers up 5-4. Denny led the walkers in scoring last night with Troy and Jeremy Johnson adding to the scoring as well. Denny and Troy played a part in assisting Jeremy Johnson’s goal in the 1st period. Each of the Anderson’s set Jay Edmiston up a few times throughout the game and Edmiston returned the favor on a couple of their goals. The colonials had a better 2nd period and found themselves up 9-6 in the 3rd period before Denny led a rally for the walkers to close the gap to 9-8 before Phil Mace finally got a couple past Dodd at the end. The walkers will look to get their 1st win when they go up against the bear claw next week. The colonials will go up against the yeti.
Bob Anderson (Colonials)
1. You celebrated a birthday by getting to play not one, but two games of hockey last night. Can you think of a better way to spend your birthday?
Hey, two games of hockey...I'm not complaining. I appreciated the Hounds giving me an opportunity to jump in with them and a thank you to the Knights for giving it the green light. I didn't play as much in that game as I usually do, but any hockey is better than no hockey.
2. You treated yourself to a new expensive stick after breaking one in last nights game. What is your favorite brand of stick and what do you consider the most ideal place to get them?
I made a $190 stick purchase last night. It's the most I've ever spent on a twig in my life. Amick introduced me to Tron Hockey and I bought a stick from there last year for Brockway. I carried it over to Reynoldsville and now I'd too spoiled to go back to the old 2 x 4's I was using. Once you go with a lighter stick, you can't go back to the heavy ones. I didn't want to spend that much, but hey, it was my birthday!
3. Walkers gave the team a good battle last night. What can you say about the game overall?
I give the Walkers a lot of credit. They were resilient. We'd get a lead and they would bounce back and chip away. It seemed that happened all night until the end. That said, I think we need to tighten up our defense and not play as sloppy in the weeks ahead or we'll be the ones playing from behind.
4. A lot of us figured the yeti and knights were the front runners but is it safe to say the eagles deserve to be in that equation despite losing the last 2 weeks?
Yes...they are definitely in the equation. They battled the Yeti all night and only lost by a goal despite being ironman. Zac Gray is a difference maker for them. He adds a ton of speed. Once they get the rest of the guys back in the lineup, they'll be a force. Plus, when you have Henry in net, you can win any night against any team.
5. In Foradori’s final thoughts, he mentioned about some teams loading up and he doesn’t think that’s good for the league. Do you have any thoughts on that?
I agree with Zach and applaud him for adding his insights to the blog. It makes for some entertaining reading. In regards to the question, it's all it takes is for one team to load up a roster and then others feel like they have to load up to keep pace. It's an XHL arms race. A salary cap of some type would be ideal, but obviously, that would take a lot of work to institute. Not only that, but I know guys like to play with their friends. In the end, it's really up to the captains to decide what their priorities are. How badly do you want to win a championship? Is it fun to win games by 5 or 6 goals nightly? It's up to them to decide. For me personally, I like to have a competitive team but I don't need to have a dominant team.
RJ (Yeti)
1. Hard fought win against the eagles last night. What can you say about the overall team effort in the win? It was a good team effort against a good team. We are solid all around. The Eagles have an obvious weakness in Boyd
2. Game winning goal with a couple minutes left. Take us through that play? We had numbers coming into the zone and I went straight to the net. Nobody picked me up so I waited there until Zach swung it over to me. Pretty sure Boyd was supposed to be on me
3. Goals were hard to come by on both sides. What can you say about the play of each goalie in that game? . It’s never easy scoring on Henry. Adam had a heck of a game as well. Only allowed two goals. But with Boyd on their team it must feel like being on the PK the whole game so not sure how many shots they even had
4. Eagles were ironman. Did you expect the game to be as close as it was? Yeah for a team playing iron man and with Boyd it was surprisingly close
5. As a Pittsburgh penguin fan, how tough has it been seeing a Stanley cup team slowly crumble as each season passes by? They should probably just sell the whole team and do a complete rebuild. Looks like a whole team of Austin Boyds out there.
Jeremy Johnson (Walkers)
1. Hard fought loss to the colonials last night. What can you say about the overall team effort in the game? Team effort was really good! Had a few defensive breakdowns and unfortunately those came back to cost us.
2. You guys were right there with 5 minutes to go last night. What do you think went wrong at the end? I think we got a little more focused on trying to score, we're bunching up and not playing positions. The time remaining and the score got the best of us.
3. As the opponent last night, it looked like your team chemistry was pretty good last night. Do you like the progress your team has made since the league started a few months ago? Every game we're getting better playing with each other! Getting to know one another's habits, strengths, and weaknesses is very important for any team
4. What positives can you take out of last nights game going into the rest of the season? We're definitely becoming a stronger team each game and hoping our remaining opponents continue to underestimate us and we pull off some surprises
5. You regretting your return at all or do you wish you would have got back to playing hockey sooner? Wish I would have never stopped! Wish my work schedule was more accommodating so I could be playing every chance i could now.
Jason Stamler (Knights)
1. You are celebrating a birthday today. Got any big plans to celebrate it? No big plans.
2. Knights remain unbeaten. Are you adjusting well to the new team and all the winning you are experiencing? Yes I am adjusting and it’s nice to finally be on a winning team.
3. What can you say about the overall effort in last nights game? Last night was a good game We played well all around.
4. You guys were expected to win pretty easily last night. Is it harder to approach those kind of games? Yes you play to there level.
5. Laken’s tournament next week. Do you like draft tournaments better than the ones where you get to choose what team you are on? . I like draft tournament better because you usually play with people you don’t usually play with.
****Sent an interview out to Zac Gray****. We will post his interview when he gets a chance to respond.
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