Yeti and Eagles Moving On

Yeti 15  Venom 3

The Yeti will get another shot at the Colonials following a 15-3 win over the Venom last night.   They missed their chance at a bye following a loss to the Colonials last week but made up for it with last nights win over the Venom.   Both teams played with a limited line up.    The venom definitely could have used Cody Haag, Tyler Waltman and Jeremy Johnson.   All three were present in last week’s competitive loss to the Eagles but they were missing some of their other guys in that game.   John Matchock filled in to give them a sub and had an impressive first period goal but they found themselves down 5-0 before that goal.   All 3 of their goals were nice last night.  Troy Gaydosh may have had the nicest goal of the night in the 2^nd period.  His impressive backhand goal cut the deficit to 6-2.  He set Andrew Britton up for a nice goal in the 3^rd period but the game was well out of reach by then.   If they could have had their full line up present for a majority of the games this season, they would have had potential to compete more against the leagues better team.   Jeremy Johnson only made a few games while Tyler Waltman and Cody Haag, Garrett Britton also missed some games.  Tony Conforto transitioned from skater to goalie this season and experienced some ups and downs like all goalies.   He had a pretty good start to the 2^nd period last night but the Yeti had a 5 or 6 minute stretch in the 2^nd period that turned their 6-2 lead into a 12-2 lead.  They clinched a mercy rule win with 9 minutes to go in the 3^rd period.   Like the venom, the Yeti have had limited lineups throughout the season.  Ben Rossi, Jeff Wehner and Matt Jewell were not present last night but their other 4 guys, Zach Foradori, Dave Jewell, RJ and Braxton looked to be just fine playing ironman.  RJ and Dave Jewell appeared to stand out the most but everyone in their line up had at least a couple goals and their share of assists.   The Yeti won once against the Colonials in a shootout earlier in the season and lost the opening game of the season against them along with the final regular season game.  To knowledge, Ben Rossi has not played in any of the games against the Colonials.  Jeff missed 2 of the 3 games.   In last nights game, the yeti went up 5-0 late in the first period before Matchock’s goal cut it to 5-1.  A 6-2 lead in the 2^nd period quickly turned into a blowout win.   The loss ends the Venom’s season but it sounds like they will have some of their core playing in Brockway this summer.  The Yeti will try to make another championship run starting next week.   They may be a little bit of an underdog this year compared to the last couple years but the Colonials will be expecting their best in this series.  One game next week and two if needed the following week.

Eagles 11  Bear Claw 4

The Eagles picked up their 3^rd straight win following a losing skid in the middle of the season and are moving on following an 11-4 win over the Bear Claw last night.   In recent seasons, they have had to go up against Adam and company to start out the playoffs and haven’t had much success in the process.  Maybe bypassing some of those guys to start out this years playoffs will bring them a little better luck.  To get a shot at the invaders, they took care of business against the Bear Claw.  Before the game, Eric Llewellyn was a little nervous that the Bear Claw could give them everything they could handle with their revolving lineup, but any thought of an upset probably went away after going up 5-0 by the end of the first period.  The Bear Claw had Jaron, both the Matchock’s, Vinnie and Erika Dodd in their line up last night.  Vinnie was planning on playing this season but had some unfortunate circumstances come up during the fall league which made it hard for him to commit to playing this season.  Erika and Derrian couldn’t commit for the season either but both were able to make last nights game.  Erika had 2 goals while Vinnie added a goal as well.  Derrian did not goalie last night, but blocked his share of shots playing defense.  Kaden had broken goalie equipment which left the door open for Brian to goalie for them.    In a match up earlier this season, the Colonials beat the Eagles with Brian in net, limiting the Eagles to 4 goals, but the Eagles passed that mark by the time the first period ended last night.  Eric Llewellyn put them on the board early, then Denny scored a couple first period goals while Austin Boyd also scored a couple first period goals as well.  The 2^nd period went much better for the Bear Claw.  Jaron Buffone was all over the court last night and had about 4 or 5 good chances to score on break aways, but Eagles goalie Clay Halpin denied him every time.   Brian settled into the game after a tough first period and kept the Eagles off the board for a good part of the 2^nd period while Match and Vinnie were able to score goals for the Bear Claw to close the gap to 5-2 late in the 2^nd period.   Denny scored late in the 2^nd period to make it 6-2 on a good pass from Eric Llewellyn and in the closing seconds of the 2^nd, Austin Boyd had a shot initially stopped by Brian but Brian could not possess it which opened the door for a 7^th goal for the Eagles.  If Jaron scores a goal or two on his break aways and if Brian could have made a few more saves that the leagues better goalies usually make, we could have had a more interesting game going into the 3^rd period.    The Eagles gradually pulled away in the 3^rd period.  Their first 3^rd period goal came on a nice pass from Denny to Llewellyn and Austin Boyd later scored a goal from the side of the net.   He used Brian’s back knee pad as a back board.   With the win, the Eagles get at least 2 more chances to beat the Invaders.   The Invaders have not lost since the Eagles won against them the 2^nd week of the season.    We will play one game next week followed by 2 games the following week if needed.   A couple players on the Eagles reached out following the game last night offering praise and encouragement for goalying against them last night.  Its very much appreciated.  We would like to wish all 4 teams, one team in particular, the best of luck in the playoffs.   Figure on just one game next week in each series with 2 potential games the following week if needed.