Suds chill the Freeze!

Schlitz (6) vs Deep Freeze

Sunday June 22nd

Canton 10:20pm

7-1 Win.

Talk about a turn around. Given the last time we played these guys, we've had a significant market correction. The question is... which is closer to reality? Certainly they aren't as good as that first meeting would indicate (maybe we just aren't that bad...) but they also can't be a soft as they showed at times last night. I think there was two different goaltenders involved... on both sides. The good news is that the guy we faced last night is more likely their regular... and unfortunately for the Freeze... he didn't have a great night. But... they do have awesome new unis that they designed themselves.

[If DeepFreeze Dave or anyone else from the Freeze is reading please email me a pic or graphic of that new logo.. it is pretty awesome. fearlessfoz@gmail.com]

Conversely Brian Carey ran his record to 3-2 on the season (2.80 GAA), with a sparkling performance in net last night, giving up only one goal and making some tremendous point blank stops that kept the Freeze at bay and frustrated.

This was a night much needed for the team's morale. We've been getting kicked around our own division a bit lately so it was nice to have a good matchup with an opponent we could run with, and even better to get some breaks on long shots that helped boost our score.

In general the Gold did a very nice job of working hard and creating chances that really paid off. We started out with an even 10. Valenti and Jeff backed by Pete and Elliot on D, with iJosh, Chuck and Ken, running opposite Larry, Roman and Matvey. Nelson would show about halfway through the game and would rotate through the lines.

It didn't take long for the Gold to capitalize on their chances and about 5 minute in Roman would break the ice on a pass from Matvey to get things going. Not more than a couple minutes later the second line would break through as Chuck Slate buried one that came down from Marc Valenti. 2-0 good guys and there was serious positive mojo on the Gold bench. Before the end of the period Chuck would bury another one, this time from Ken Goldenberg with a dandy pass and the first period would end 3-0 good guys.

The Second period, usually not our strong suit was a true grind. No scoring on either end but lots of chances. Brian would turn away a bunch of good chances from the Freeze who were playing hard, and getting frustrated as they tried to break through time and again. Big time credit to all in Gold last night for the continued effort to win pucks and make good passes all night long. The Schlitz held onto their lead tenaciously but they knew, even with a 3 goal lead things could change fast with the next goal scored.

As the third got underway the question of that next goal was answered to the delight of the Skating Beercans when Roman, taking a long pass from Nelson ripped a long shot that went in and out of the net so fast that Roman himself didn't realize he had scored. He wasn't the only one who didn't "see" it... if you know what I mean.

The Beercan Pride was in effect, and by no small measure the Freeze had lost their steam, as the game wound down. The Can's would strike again , iJOsh from Chuck, and then Father Time Sharfman would score on a breakaway (from Roman) to put the Gold up 6-0 and the Freeze tender might as well had "TKO" blinking over his helmet.

Again credit the Freeze for keeping after it. They would finally land one with about 2 minutes left to spoil Brian's shutout. It was a good play all around by them and not much anyone could do about it. iJosh would bang home what ended up being a near empty netter when the Freeze keeper came out to play it, then let Josh have it as he pressed forward into the zone. Josh flipped it into the vacated net and time expired on a very nice (and uplifting) 7-1 win.

Good show all the way around for the Gold who move to 4-1-1 on the season.

Game Stars

3rd Star: Brian Carey. Another solid performance for Brian who is starting to put together a nice season for us. Great work.

2nd Star: Chuck Slate. 2 goals and an assist on the night for the Chuckster who played great and (obviously) put the puck on net when he needed to. Nice Job.

1st Star: Roman "Really... it went in?" Kurin. Also with 2 goals and an assist Roman played terrific all night long. Clearly he was undeserving of the crap Jeff was yelling half the time from the bench and played strong on both ends of the ice. Great work Roman.

Postgame sadness... the blogger couldn't believe it... he left the parking lot at 11:32pm without having one single solitary cold adult beverage. There was none to be had and therefore... no 4th period. Sigh... I suppose it had to happen sometime. Ok for a late Sunday night game....