Is This Week One?

"True" I-league

Whalers (1-0-0) 3
Blue Devils I (0-1-0) 2

The storied Blue Devil franchise establishes its first farm team, and it may be awhile before any of these prospects makes the show. After nearly ten minutes of deadlock defensive hockey the Devils strike first with a goal from Todd Smith, but the Hamster puts the Whalers back to net zero. The story is the same in the second, only the names are changed to protect those who value their reputations: the Devil goal belongs to Jamil Jabri and the Whalers get the tying goal from Richard Walter. But the story concludes (finally) in the third period, the Devils miss their cue to score but the Mighty Hamster doesn't miss his. The Whalers win their first game on Brian Hamstra's shoulders, a role that Brian has not relished in the past, will any one step up in his support this session? Perhaps Greg Mata will be the one, he faces twenty-eight shots and allows only two goals.

Puckers (1-0-0) 6
Mutineers (0-1-0) 3

The Puckers watched their play-off hopes fizzle away last session and looked to be suffering from the hangover as the first two Mutineers shots find the back of the net. Patrick grits his teeth as John Swartzbaugh and Casey Payne throw their 'hood up. Rob Constantine feels the wrath of his netminder and delivers the first in a long line of Pucker goals. Dusty Smith is next followed by Constantine, again. Then, a couple from Jason Arias, and to cap-off the scoring spree, Guy Riggs waltzes in shorthanded and makes it six to two in favor of the red menace. In the death throes of the Mutineers opening game, Bob-O collects a meaningless tally, making sure that no matter the outcome of the Mutineer's trail of tears, he will still have his personal stats in order.

Stickmen (1-0-0) 4
Brewzers (0-1-0) 0

The Sticks live through the Patriot 2-0 loss and don't even have a mark on their record, tonight they reverse the whip. During the first period, the Sticks observe the Brewzers wandering about the rink from their blind, taking tedious and careful notes, awaiting their time. That time came in the second. Clint Tippet puts away the first Stick goal, then Kyle Rybak Scores twice on the same shift. Ken Halford scores the fourth and final goal of the contest. Although shooting was dead even from both competitors the remainder of the games statistics fall easily to the Sticks, such as hits, er. . . face-offs (I assume), Penalty minutes, and of course goals. Hits, by the way, result in penalties in our league.

Warriors (1-0-0) 2
Shockers (0-1-0) 1

The Shockers flounder through the first period but gain the lead thanks to Jared Holt with just a couple minutes left in the second. With a cheerful intermission they return to the ice, only to surrender the lead to a late period shot from Warrior Carl Mason. In the final minute of the game Sean Griffith collects the Warriors game winner, bailing out rockstar goalie Bobby Michaelides who turned away more shots than his team could put on the other net, .950 SP.

Spiders (0-1-0) 1
Silverwings (1-0-0) 4

Sergio Castillo's therapy session does gain a Silverwing win but unfortunately yields only one Castillo assist. . . A. J. DiBenedetto seeks refuge from the big lights of the SND goal and gets the assist on the first Silverwing goal from Ryan Kelley, Kelley gets the assist on Bryan Smith's power play goal, and Andrew Patti breaks the Wing streak by capitalizing on the Spider's man advantage. It's Kelley again for the Silverwings, with his second goal and when Mike Ginnard goes into the box for the second time the Silverwings collect another power play goal, this time from Bryan Brookman. The good news for the arachnids is that Mike's third and final time in the sin bin has no ill result on the scoreboard, not much to hang your hat on.

SND

Privateers (0-0-1) 5
Canadiens (1-0-0) 6

Young Kim scores on the first shot for the 'Teers filling all the swashbucklers with confidence and A. J. with dread for the game ahead of him. The Canadiens score next to tie the game, but William Cravens goal is erased by the second Privateer shot on goal- Chris Palmer's goal. Tony Finazzo scores the next Privateer goal, James Macha the next Canadien goal. When Matt Taylor scores the fourth Privateer goal it was only the sixth shot on net, yet somehow before the third period ends, and with the stellar play of Gabe Rivera and Clinton Tippett, the game was knotted at four all. In the final period of regulation, Chris Gallagher nets what he hoped would be the Canadien's game winner but Taylor strikes again for the 'Teers just eight seconds later to tie the game and send it to overtime. Gallagher efficiently utilizes the sudden death period to win the game just 39 seconds in. I criticized Ryan Haley's save percentage last week, perhaps I spoke too soon- this weekend she turns in an unimpressive .667 SP against the Puckers, while A. J. posts a dismal .643 here. Good thing he has Gallagher in reserve.

Ice Bats (0-0-1) 1
Patriots (1-0-0) 2

A tense and hard fought game built for over thirty minutes of game time while both teams continued to hit each other in the face, to no avail. Things were not shaping up well for the Pats who could not get a shot on goal despite having a five on three for nearly ninety seconds. The Patriots do manage to get on the board first when John Newell comes out on top of a goal line scramble. But there were still more than twelve minutes left in the game and a goal line scramble erupts at the other end, this time though David Trantham's effort dies half way across the line under Ellis' right leg. With two minutes and five seconds left Butch Hutchinson puts the Patriot's one goal lead into peril- peril that proves to be far too perilous. The Bats look like piranhas on an Amazon stranded calf around the net, and eventually pulled their goalie, putting six on the Patriot's four. Just as the penalty expires David Trantham takes another swipe at the goal, it rebounds high off the stick of Ellis but hits the shaft and Ellis redirects it back into the goal. Five seconds of staunch puck possession leads to five minutes of the same. In the shoot-out Ellis turns away Tim Marra, Dallas Lehr scores for the Pats. Ellis closes the five hole to block Mark Smith, Marra shuts-down Kendall Bernard in similar fashion. It once again comes down to the match-up of David Trantham and Jon Ellis. With the pressure on both men, David abandons his signature left to right move across the crease and barrels straight at Ellis, Ellis bites on the shoulder fake but when Trantham shoots for the open stick side the diving goaltender Ginsu-s the puck under the blade of his stick. The Patriot bench erupts, the game won.

Komets (1-0-0) 3
Blue Devils (0-1-0) 2

Blubaugh looks to resurrect his weekend winning percentage, but this is not your father's Komet team. With Dobson replacing Coach Al at the helm, they roar out of the gate with goals from Ram Lavani and Kelly Harris. there were rumblings that the Devils were on the verge of an all out team collapse, but Tim Schmidt nips it in the bud with a Devil shot past Brent Bryant (apparently Dobson has chosen to drop the starter goalie A. J. for a goalie who can start), and following that the tying goal from the face of the franchise, Charlie Heine. Dobson watches as the lead evaporates all the while plotting his counter move. Overtime loomed but he doesn't flinch, even as the final seconds tick down. Just as he stratagized, John Thompson makes the open ice steal and slides the winner in with only one second left on the clock, leaving no recourse for the Blue Devils. . . Mu-Wha-Ha-Ha!

You fiddle around with the puck too much, Nate.