Suds fall to Sparta! Open season with loss.

Schlitz (1) vs Spartans

Thursday Sept. 25th

9:00pm Brockton

3-1 Loss.

The blogger was definitly not on scene for this one, still recovering from that short off season. Here are a team of guest bloggers to tell you all about it. Lets start off with a word from Dr. Scott Pounds who checked in with a very nice recap:

"We lost 3-1.

We started the game with 9: Campbell, DWH, and Mike Daley on D; Gregson, Elliot and new Ken; Scot, Chris Foz and Kilroy lines. Nelson showed up a few minutes in and took over center for Elliot, who moved to D. iJosh appeared shortly after that and began as the floater. When Kilroy took a hard shot off the ankle and new Ken discovered that his skating muscles were way flabby, iJosh, Kilroy and new Ken rotated quickly at right wing. Scot and Gregson rotated left.

The game was competitive. Brian made a bunch of nice saves. The Spartans just had that little bit of edge. One pudgy guy scored two pretty goals after keeping the puck on his stick through our zone. The golden boys were never out of it, and I think we may have outshot them overall. We had some outstanding chances in close and were rotating in the zone pretty well. Coach George would have approved, but we could not get one past the keeper until iJosh wrested one into the far corner after some pretty passing by the Schlitz.

New guy Ken had some good instincts remaining from his high school playing days and is also the early leader for the Mike Campbell Trophy after being called for interference in front of the Spartan net, then jawing with one of the Spartans followed by disputing the refs version of reality. He obviously has a bright future in either red or gold.

Overheard in the 4th period during a discussion of whether you would be attracted to a woman who was your twin:
iJosh: (to Gregson) There’s a woman at my work who looks just like you - without the beard.
Gregson: So she’s hot?

Outstanding... in every way Doctor... thanks very much.

Let's continue with world class guestblogger iJosh with an excellent recap:

"Game 1 of the Back to Back to Back defense of the League Title began with a sputter. It certainly was not for lack of effort. Nor was it for a lack of chances. The Maroon and Gold were in this game most the way. But, and I'll save you from looking at the end of the blog, did not end well as our Heroes would fall 3-1.

The game would start....um....actually I don't know. Due to some traffic and a late arriving person, who shall remain nameless but goes by the title of my wife, I was unable to see much if any of the 1st period. So as I arrived on the ice it was already 1-0 Spartans.
So the 2nd period began with the following: Defense: Mike Campbell, Matt Elliott, New Daddy with Hands as well as the return of Mike Daley. The forwards would line up with: Gritty Old Nelson, CEO Kilroy, Dan Gregson, Dr. Pounds, Chris Foz, Rookie Ken Douville and late arriving iJosh.

The second period would see a fair amount of chances by the Gold. iJosh would miss on the doorstep, just barely getting stuffed as Chris Foz and Kilroy set him up with a rebound (that almost made it in as well). That would be followed by Foz getting some good chances after being cycled the puck from down low. But nothing to show. The Spartans would throw some pressure on too, but Brian would respond time and again. Finally though the Spartan would pierce the armor and improve on their lead 2-0 Green.

Into the 3rd, the Beercans would continue to press. This time DWH would miss in close twice. Once a last second deflection would ruin what would have been a goal. Then on a rush, DWH would get broken up, only to find the puck between his skates. He would collect the puck and flip the backhand just a bit high and over the glass. Later in the 3rd the Green would again improve their lead. This time a "look what I found" goal as the puck would rattle around and find its way to an enemy stick, where it would be tipped by Brian. 3-0 Green. Now the Schlitz would need to press to get back into the game, or at bare minimum avoid the shutout. The chances would get slimmer as time would wind down. With roughly 5 minutes to go, Ken Douville would be shown what the inside of the Brockton penalty box looked like after he took issue with an open ice take down. None-the-less, it would leave the Gold down a man. With only a few ticks remaining on the clock, Chris Foz and Mike Campbell would make their attempt at a score. This created a loose puck that iJosh would one-time into the top right corner to trim the deficit to 3-1. Though that would be all the Gold would have.

But despite the loss it was nice to have Mike Daley back. And Ken D looked good despite the rust and lack of wind (its only been 7 years Ken you should be fine by next game). Just like the past few seasons, it appears that we start with a loss. I'll take a game one loss, because if our history is any indication we won't lose the last game."

Great work as always iJosh!

Here's Chris Fosdick (responding to my email...): "It wasn't Elliot that scored, it was iJosh from me. There was a penalty. I know new guy Ken had one. (BTW he showed good hustle and some talent)

You know the Spartans have a few guys who are playing down a level, so its tough, but we played them quite close. Very even back and forth, both teams having moments of good pressure. I would say that overall we probably had more good chances than they did, but they had a hot goalie, and so it goes. Good game even though we lost."

And one from Mike Campbell: "Josh had the goal. Ken (the new guy) wants to be a goon. He got the only penalty. Well fought game. Brian played well. Elliot and I were the Defensive pair on the ice for all three goals."

This gem from Mike Daley: "Highlight was Lizzy pulling into the parking lot at 11:00 well after most had gone home. Scott and iJosh extended the 4th with her. Gregson, Elliott, and I had to call it a night at that point."

Good stuff all around. Not the desired outcome...but hey...we'll get to that.

Looks like next week we have the first of the 'daveurs starting up right away.

See you Tuesday night Sept.30th in Hingham at 10:20pm