Schlitz go down to Rangers in regular season finale.

Schlitz (15) vs Rangers

Quincy Youth Arena

Tuesday Aug. 21

9-6 Loss.

Bummer of a night for the Suds who were optimistic going into the game about wrapping up the first place spot in our division. That optimism faded as we settled into the game and began chasing the Rangers all night. They had fewer skaters, but probably a couple that were better quality than what we put out on the ice. This showed as the game began and the Rangers scored on their first rush and shot to put us down one 15 seconds into the game. That was it. We were a goal (or two) down the whole night.

Playing from behind we still had a pretty good showing. The Rangers went up 2-0 before we broke through on a hard work effort by Nelson Sharfman. Nelson and Dangerous Dave cycled low and thanks to Nelson's grit and determination got the puck out to Jeff Fosdick who was camped out in the slot and buried it. After 1 it was 2-1 bad guys but the Suds were feeling pretty good.

The second period was more of the same uphill climb. They scored 4 min into the period to go back up by two but again more hard work from Nelson and Dave resulted in a goal by Dangerous Dave about a minute later. They scored again, (maybe you see a pattern here...) and then the first line broke through. Larry Bell put one away on a feed from Mike Jasse that again kept us within one. Unfortunately the Rangers scored again just before the end of the period to make it 5-3 after 2 periods.

The blogger wishes he could say that the third period was different but alas... it wasn't. The Schlitz did score first, right after a lineup change that sent Jeff Fosdick back to defense in exchange for Kevin Parker. Kevin scored (helper from Nelson) about four minutes into the period on what was becoming a common setup for the Schiltz. Grinding around the net and picking up rebounds in the traffic out front. Unfortunately the Schiltz bench was full of tired, huffing and puffing faces and the resulting let down spelled our doom. The Rangers scored the next two (7-4) and the Suds called time.

The timeout seemed to help as we had a minor lift. Mike Jasse put one away from Larry this time but the come back would fall short. Despite a goal from Nelson (assist Billy Pearlman) the Rangers were able to put away 2 more and the dissapointing final was 9-6.

Not much penalty action to speak of other than Billy for 1 and Hammitt had his usual 2 (but at least one was matching...maybe both were) but weren't a major factor in the outcome.

Tough way to lose the last regular season game but... it just wasn't our night. A game we could have won but you have to give their good players credit for getting it done. No game stars for that one but in general everyone played pretty well.

Honorable Mention: Nelson Sharfman with 1 goal and 3 assists for a big 4 point night. Great effort all night dude. Nelson always brings it.... like the cagey vet he is. Plus he looks SO GOOD in those Yellow Jerseys!

See you in the playoffs. Stay tuned for updates on games....