Who needs to win in the regular season? The Mobb have already won just as many games in 2022 as they did in 2021. The odds were against them last night considering a young, energetic mayhem team would be waiting for them even if they could get by the Walkers at 620. They were able to get off to a comfortable lead against the Walkers in the 2nd period and were able to preserve some energy for the Mayhem at 815. They also caught a break when 3 players on the mayhem were out sick (AJ, Trent and Jeff).
Despite the absence of those 3 guys, the Mayhem found themselves tied at 4 with just under two minutes to play. The two teams combined for at least 6 penalties, maybe more throughout the contest. With the score tied at 2 late 2nd period, Cory Schuckers went down with an ankle injury just as the 2nd period ended. He was unable to finish the game or walk off on his own power. His status for next weeks games against the Slap Happy is doubtful. With the score tied at 3, Mitch Dorunda scored a big goal to put his team ahead 4-3, but Zach Smith scored his 3rd goal soon after to tie it at 4. With just over a minute and a half to play, Zach Foradori got one by Henry Sutter to put the Mobb ahead for good. They would add an empty net goal (Mitch) with 25 seconds left to go ahead 6-4. The loss eliminated the Mayhem. See below to see what Peach had to say about his teams season. He may have put his best xhl team together this season, but unfortunately, they may have been done in by attendance issues throughout the season. In an interview last week with Zach Smith, he too pointed out a concern with who would show up for the play in game. We wont know what could have been if Trent, AJ and Jeff would have been able to play last night. Even having one or two of them would have been a big help. A lot of Credit goes to the Mobb for rallying around Cory Schuckers injury. Tyler Luzier stepped up in net last night and they got clutch goals from Dorunda and Foradori. Can they compete against the Slap Happy next week without Cory? One thing is certain -------- they are happy to have the opportunity after a tough regular season. One good night of hockey should help make up for the 8 losses they had in the regular season. See what Jake Kline had to say about his team in an interview below:
The middle game of the evening didn’t disappoint, even though it looked like it may after the Colonials got off to a quick 4-0 and 5-1 lead. Kevin Smith was unable to find the back of the net in last week’s ironman tournament, but quickly made up for it with 3 first period goals. He also set Dan Fatula up for another to put the Colonials up 5-1. Clint Lingenfelter started out slow for the Narwals, but did everything he could to give his team a chance. They just needed a few more seconds as they got plenty of traffic and opportunities around Tim Herman as time expired. With the Colonials up 4-0 following a goal from Brian Anderson, Austin Boyd scored on a nice slap shot to put the Narwals on the board. Steve Kalgren scored as the first period expired to get the Narwals within 3 going into the 2nd period. They would score one more goal in the 2nd period and another halfway thru the 3rd period to pull within a goal, but were unable to score that all important tying goal. Both teams had good opportunities to score but both goalies stood tall. The game only featured a couple penalties and did not feature any lead changes. The Colonials had the lead throughout but its no surprise that the winning team only won by a goal. The two teams will meet again next Monday night at 715. If the Narwals win, they would play again in a do or die 3rd game on January 17th.
Slap Happy were off last night, but they at least learned who their opponent will be. They will play the Mobb at 620 and 815 next Monday night. The two teams played in back to back weeks early in the season. Slap Happy won the first game fairly easily, 12-6 but they had to rally for a 5-3 win the following week. The Mobb played that game without Cory as well so maybe they can hang in there with the top seed.
The XHL would like to thank the Walkers and Mayhem for a good season. Both teams opened the 20th season with the Walkers upsetting the Mayhem 5-2 that night. The Walkers competed well most of the time and always gave everything they had. Not long ago, Jerred Amick pointed out how good of a team the Mayhem could have had if they could have gotten some more chemistry together and bought into how one another played. Their season came to an end last night, but we would like to thank them for giving the XHL a very entertaining play in game. We just feel bad that a couple of their guys got sick at the wrong time. What would have been if the Mayhem had a full team? Unfortunately, we will never know.
Clint Lingenfelter (Narwals)
1. 5 to 4 loss tonight. How would you describe the overall team effort? The team effort was great! The game was a lucky bounce away from being tied
2. You guys were down by 4 goals early. What do you think went wrong in that first part of the game? I let in a couple weak ones and we had a couple defensive lapses...cleaned it up quick and played our game the rest of the way.
3. Any goals you would like to have back? Kevins short side one I was off my angle just a touch and Dans...I saw him there before the pass came I just didnt react correctly
4. Your team battled back to get within a goal with plenty of time to go. How disappointing was it to come that close but fall short? It definitely was but I thought we played well enough to at least tie it. Hats off to Herm for making a couple good saves in the closing seconds!
5. You will get another chance next Monday. How important will it be to get off to a better start? Very. Our first period as a team has been pretty rough all season. We shall see!
Peach (Mayhem)
1. Hard fought game tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? It was a great effort all around. We had a hard time finding rhythm for a while, but our defensive effort was great and goaltending was solid. We just needed to find a way to beat Tyler and couldn’t get it done. Hats off to him on his game(s) tonight!
2. No AJ, Trent or Jeff tonight. How do you think the team responded without them? May have been the difference maker, may not have been, but we found a way to take it into the final seconds without the kids’ speed and without Jeff’s grit and solid 2-way play. We’ve had roster issues most of the year, unfortunately that didn’t change tonight. Corey (Bassett) filled in nicely as usual though. He inadvertently ended up being part of this team and fit in quite nicely.
3. Foradori got one by Sutter late in the 3rd period. What do you think went wrong on that play? It was a perfectly placed shot from a dangerous area. We left Henry out to dry, but the only thing that went wrong was Zach being in perfect position to let a perfect shot rip.
4. Despite the early exit, Do you think this was one of the best xhl teams you have assembled? . It was a really fun team to play with for sure! I’m familiar with playing with a few of them, and hope to keep playing with them in the future. They played hard, played with class, and always left their feelings on the court. It was a really good mix, Zach was an awesome pickup, Anthony filled in nicely for Barry (Justin Ritzie), and I think Walt is becoming a solid, responsible 2-way player. It’s always fun watching young guys like him and Trent evolve. When Trent starts lighting you guys up on a regular basis, don’t say I didn’t tell you so! I’d pick any of them up again in a heartbeat. But to answer your question, yes indeed.
5. Mobb had to win a game earlier tonight. Did you think that could give you guys a slight advantage going into it? They had time to rest, and sometimes that can be beneficial. They’re already skating 100% while we’re just getting our legs under us, so they had an early hop in their step. You can only hope it that the fatigue sets in late. I thought perhaps when they took that time out that it was catching up to them, but then Clontz’s PED’s kicked in and he just got bigger, stronger, and faster. Wishing them the best of luck next week!
Brice Miller (Walkers)
1. 14 to 2 loss tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort ? Our team gives 100% every night, but I think we started slow and it hurt us.
2. The last part of the season was hard on your team. Do you think the competition got tougher as the season went on? Competition got tougher as the league progressed. Other teams had different players showing up and for the most part we had a lot of tough games to play.
3. What was it like playing on this team? . It was a lot of fun playing with this group. We had some tough nights but you didn’t see the bickering that would happen from other teams that are in that position. It was all positive with this team.
4. Was it discouraging not being able to give this team a more competitive game tonight? Yeah very, it was tough to get it going with the early deficit that kept spiraling.
5. A draft league will soon follow once the league ends. Will you be around and if so, do you like the draft leagues better? Yep I’ll still be around and trying to play as much as I can. There are pros and cons to the draft leagues. I think I do like them better because you get certain players spread out across the league.
Jake Kline (Mobb)
1. Two wins tonight. How would you describe the overall team effort in the wins tonight? The team effort finally kicked in tonight. Took us all season to finally seem to play some good hockey. We have very very few game this season that we actually had good team effort. Finally 2night when it was do ir die we got it. Team effort was great. FINALLY
2. You guys and mayhem went toe to toe. What do you think made the difference in the win? . i really don't no what made the difference in this win. It could of went either was somehow we just got it together and took the win I guess. Had mitch cap the game off with the best empty net goal that I've seen
3. Lots of penalties against you guys. How do you think the power play kill looked? Yeah alot of penalties for sure. I think our power play was pretty good tonight. Seemed to work out for the most part
4. Does a night like tonight outweigh the Frustrating regular season you guys had? I don't think it really outweighs it. Playing pretty much the whole season not being able to get anything really going really sucked. Don't get me wrong fill great to win 2 games 2night. Think we tied our 2 wins tonight with our 2 wins for whole season
5. Slap Happy are waiting for you and you probably won’t have Cory. What kind of expectations do you have? I'm hoping to have a good games against them. If we can play how we played tonight we just might have a chance. Should be good games