Cans and Cats Showdown in Canton

Schlitz (24) vs Tigers

Monday March 17

Canton 9:10pm

3-3 Tie

Another interesting night at the rink for the Beercans and the quest to finally put one over on the Tigers, a good solid team that has had a knack of coming back on us, or just plain beating us. See Tigers games. Going into last night, we are a collective 0-3-4 against these guys this season, our only wins against them coming last summer. Get this... all four ties ended 3-3. I guess that last night's score should have come as no surprise to anyone.

There was reason for optimism last night as the Mighty Beercans dressed a spiffy 13 man roster that should have been able to run with anyone in our division. Here is the breakdown on the personel.

Goalie: Brian

Defense 1: DWH, Pearlman

Defense 2: Valenti, Jeff Foz

Offense 1: Bell, Daley, and Jasse

Offense 2: Nelson, George, Elliott

Offense 3: Capraro, Pounds, Slate

Pretty good lineup. Wouldn't you say? There was much reason for hope that tonight would be the night for us to finally break through against this team.

Just as the puck dropped and things got underway Jeff Foz pipes up and says something to the effect of, "Ok, short shifts, lets play hard, the first goal is key. Let's get it." The words were still coming out of his facemask when the Tigers made a nice play in our zone, a quick pass and buried the shot for a 1-0 lead. Not 30 seconds into the game. Woah.

The 'Cans looked out of sorts, no rythem developing at all, thanks to the smothering play of the Tigers defensemen who seemed to be everywhere an outlet pass was made. There were not so many chances from the Gold as the period wore on and we knew that we would have our hands full all night.

With 6 minutes remaining Jeff tried to make a clear from directly in front of Brian, however he didn't bother to look first (there was a lot of this going on) and put the puck right on the stick of one of thier good D. Just to make sure the play was complete Jeff screened Brian for the shot that went right past both of them and into the net for a 2-0 lead for the Cats.

Not so good.

Before the period was over, in fact with one minute left, the Tigers would score again, this time on a longer shot that Brian was unable to get a clean handle on. The first period would mercifully end with the "no longer so optimistic" Schlitz in a 3-0 hole.

Fortunately, friend reader of the blog, I have better news to report about the second and third periods. We made a lineup change and sent Jeff up to George's position on the Nelson line and George got more ice time skating with Valenti every other shift. This was a good move because George was all over the place. Seemingly without fatigue he made several rushes as the game went on often circling around the zone and getting back on D before the play came back up ice. He did great work all night and helped turn the tide as the Beercan's chances slowly increased as the game wore on.

Things turned for the better as the Third period began. Nelson took the faceoff and made a break with Elliott into the Tigers zone. One of thier D broke up the play (as they did all night long) with a poke check that sent the puck away from Matt to the top of the zone where a trailing Jeff Fosdick picked it up. Jeff shot high, but thanks to some form of deflection the puck sailed over the goalies glove and into the top of the net to finally break the ice for the Gold. There was the spark, and a crack we could work to open, and crawl back in the game.

Everyone in Gold should be very proud of the effort put forth, the chances continued to grow as we wore down the Tigers, and clearly gathered momentum.

With 10 and a half minutes remaining the Schlitz struck again, this time on a pattented Marc Valenti slapper that went low and fast to the back of the net and brought the game back to a 1 goal deficit. The Tigers could feel it slipping away but still were unable to mount much offense against the smothering Gold D corps, and Brian. Good work by all.

Less than 3 minutes later (7:45 remaining) Mike Daley's hard work paid off with a nice move out of the corner and in front with a nice shot tied the game. Credit another hard worker Pete Capraro with the assist. Both guys were up and down the ice doing all they could and it was appropriate that they combined for the tieing goal.

The Schlitz were riding the momentum and showed no signs of letting off the gas as they continued to fly around the puck, getting it deep in the Tiger end, and generating shots. The next wrinkle came with 5 minutes remaining. Billy Pearlman was whistled off for a hook. It was only a matter of time before the Zebras got involved given that there had been quite a bit of "give and take" going on all night long. Of course it went against us...

Kudos to the PK because the 'Cans kept after it and executed a nice kill. Unfortunatley the trend had been started and at 2:40 Larry was called for a crosscheck and he went to the box. This wasn't too bad as we continued the kill, but Pearlman went again, thanks to a dubious call, at 1:12. This left us down 5-3 for about 15 seconds. Larry came back and despite the scramble the Gold were able to fend off a few strong chances from the Tigers in that last minute to secure the tie.

Another epic 3-3 tie with the Tigers. Nice that this time we were the ones who came back this time, and they were the ones who let it slip away. We will definitly be seeing these guys in the playoffs at some point, and we'll need to have a good game just to hang with them.

Good work to all last night, nice to salvage a point from our dreadful start.

Game Stars.

3rd Star: Brian. Despite a tough 1st period, Brian made some nice saves to shut them down for the last 2 periods and keep us in the game. Thanks.

2nd Star: Valenti and Daley. A shared star for the guys who scored (without deflections) and also showed grit and played hard all night long. Marc has become a solid factor at both ends of the ice, and Mike just plain gets after it. Good work guys.

1st Star: Talk about getting after it. George Moorachian didn't figure in the scoring but he figured in everything else. "Ace" covered all kinds of ground figuring heavily in plays in our own and as well as offensivley. If we could all skate like that..... we wouldn't be us. Great job.

Honorable Mention 1: Fosdick saving some "face" with that lucky goal.

Honorable Mention 2: Everyone who brought out a water bottle to the bench.

Honorable Mention 3: The Pete, Chuck and Scott line. Hard work and solid chances all night. Chuck is sure to be thinking about the open net from the first period today....

Honorable Mention 4: Scorekeeper Larry Hudson. Best scoresheets in the league. Thanks.

Fourth Period Honors: Scott Pounds. The Green St.Pattys Bud Lights were once again the perfect beer for the occasion, served at optimum temperature. You the Man Scott.

Ok. I promise a Stats Update before the end of the week for all you 'Ho's out there wondering where you stand.

Also we'll stay in touch and let you know as soon as we do about the playoff schedule, both teams will make it so we ought to be in for some fun, and perhaps even another Playoff Schlidaveur... hmmm that would mean a rematch of the good looking - butt ugly game... interesting.