Jan 19, 2013 | Matthew Woodroffe | 885 views
The Second Season Begins:
The first two games in this series have been a lot of fun to watch, a little
nerve racking but fun. Shallow Lake certainly came into the games with a
solid plan and they have been executing it very well. Both games have been
a very tight checking affair but with some good chances at both ends. Both
Teams have relied heavily on the tenders and they have lived up to
expectations turning aside shot after shot.
Game one in Shallow Lake showed off our teams skill on the defense. The four defencemen had great games moving the puck well and getting them to the net consistently. Our forwards were getting stacked up on the offensive blue line maybe trying a few to many moves. We abandoned the dump and chase style that has been working so well and it showed in the frustration of the forwards. Shots were fairly even and the scoring was low. We salvaged a win scoring two goals to their one and taking a two point lead in the series.
Game two brought more of the same tight checking a lot of outside shots and few true scoring chances on either side. Again the goalies played well and gave their squads a chance to win it. The game stayed tied at ones until part way into the third when Shallow lake tucked one by Ryley off a scrambled face off. It was crunch time down a goal and under the threat of the series being evened up the boys made a push to get some offense going. A real nice stretch pass from our defense sent us in alone on the tender and there was no mistake as we tied the game up with about 4 minutes left to play. Coach Schwartz called a time out to give the guys a rest. The last 4 minutes was back and forth both teams looking to land the knock out punch. We had to kill a 2 minute penalty at about the 3 minute mark so the thought was kill the penalty and off to overtime and take our chances. On a decent kill the boys got a face off low in the offensive zone with 47 seconds on the clock. Evan Kuhl won the draw forward and tipped it out front to a wide open Nathan Schwartz who buried it by the the goalie. 41 seconds to go Shallow Lake pulled the tender and it was a mad dash to the finish. The guys weathered the storm and snuck a win out of a game that I think the boys would admit was not their best effort.Game three goes today with the possibility of eliminating a very stubborn Shallow Lake squad who deserves full marks for playing very well.