Suds survive Suckas!

Schlitz (18) vs Windsuckers

Tuesday January 13th

Milton Academy 9:10pm

6-4 Win

Night two this week at the lovely Milton Academy rink. This time the Suds were in action against the Windsuckers for a 9pm tilt. Sounds like a good night all the way around. We here at the blog have an excellent game recap from Veteran GuestBlogger iJosh that we hope you will enjoy. Here's iJosh:

Firmly entrenched in the winter and the winter hockey season the Cold Cans headed down to Milton Academy to face the Windsuckers. The locker room would have 9 dressing early, but a just in time Stefan and a slightly late Blake Underhill would quickly join the fray.

The pairings for the game would shape up to be: iJosh centering Chris F and Kenny D; Mike "Scoring" Daley centering "Mad" Matt Kilroy and "Dan" Gregson. Blake would learn how to be the abacus but requested to just be called the floater. So Blake was the floater. The D would be Capt George, Hammitt, Campbell and Stefan.

The puck would drop with the "Scoring" Daley line. And though they would not put one in on this shift, they would leave a good one on the doorstep to help set the pace for the game. The next shift would work hard and have a few chances. But neither would break through. Stefan would challenge an incoming pass toward a Windsucker. He would get to the player just as he caught the pass the Sucka held on. However he would seemingly lose his balance and fall over Stefan's stick. Tough to tell if Stefan had anything to do with that or not. But that would not matter as the ref (Frankenref dubbed by Campbell) saw it as Stefan's fault. He would go to the box and feel shame. The Cans would complete the PK, but not too far after that the Sucka's would draw blood and put one past netminder Brian Carey for a 1-0 lead.

Newbie, Ken Douville would soon get into a little blue line tussle as someone tried to stand him up at the blue line. Both would get called to the box, but Ken would get the extra one and again the Cans would be down a man. Again the Golden Suds held their own in the PK. All the while, the Cans were still putting pucks on net and making every attempt to tied up the game. iJosh would miss one after the goalie tipped it with the end of his stick. Campbell would barely miss one. Then finally Mr. Daley would get his first point of the night as he would slide a beauty of a pass across the slot to Mad Matt who knocked it home 5-hole style. 1-1 game at the end of 1.

In the second the Cans tried to carry their momentum to build a lead. Early on it didn't look good as Brian called out to Hammitt to clear the Sucka out of the crease. In one person's opinion, maybe it isn't a good idea to give Hammitt that sort of directive as he literally threw the player onto his ass. Well Hammitt would go to the box and think about what he had done. Now with the momentum leaning toward the Windsuckers, the Cans tried to take it right back. And this time they would come through. Mr. Daley would drive one home from Mr. Kilroy to take and early 2nd period 2-1 lead.

Though the momentum would be short lived as the Suckas would come right back to tie the game. Not long after the Sucka's would throw the puck out in front of the crease were it bounced around a bit and found its way into the net (I think it went off a defensemen, off Brian's skate and in). So the Sucka's now had the mojo running with a 3-2 lead. But in this game of back and forth momentum, it was the Schlitz turn to go for the gusto. With Mike Daley leading the way he took a pass from Kilroy and raced around the net for a tit for tat wrap around goal. 3-3 Game. Though the scoreboard (and I think even the scoresheet) had the game at 4-2. No matter. With the period running down, Capt George took a pass from Campbell, crossed the blue line and caught an opening on the near side low part of the net.

Now the score was 5-2. No! 3-3. No! 4-3. Yes right, 4-3 Schlitz. It took a little explanation to help the scorekeeper get it right. And with that the Schlitz end the 2nd with a little gusto.

With a 4-3 lead, a little momentum (there is that word again) and the fear that it could change right back the Golden Beer Cans were desperate for that bit of insurance. Not for a lack of opportunity and effort there would be little scoring early on. A few rushes and excellent opportunities were thwarted by the Sucka goalie, who really deserved more credit than the scoreboard would lead one to believe. Mike Campbell would go for a trip as he landed a nice hip check on some poor Sucka. He would get up gingerly after that one. And once again the PK was up for the challenge. The Golden team D would play solidly and would bend but not break. Stopping pucks and sending them out of the zone before any complete breakdown could happen.

Then again, Mr Daley would put another home to finally get that needed insurance as he rushed in and put one past the keeper for a 5-3 lead. On the next shift, new Ken would get his first goal as a member of Schlidaveur Inc from who.....come on people first one to guess who got the assist get a free pass from the "Coon of Shame" for a month....Yes that is right Mike Daley. One little breakdown with about 45 seconds left in the game would make it a 6-4 Schlitz lead. And that is how it would end.

The 4th period had a few die hards sipping the BL courtesy of Malachi Crunch Campbell in the cold drizzly night.

Game notes:
Both lines just clicked though the 2nd line didn't have as many ticks on the scoresheet, they were not lacking in effort or chances.
The Team D, though did break down at times, played and overall smart game.
I think the scorekeeper was drunk, but I think that isn't a big revelation.

Stars:
3rd Star: Tie. George Moorachian for his goal and solid blueline work. Ken Douville for his one assist shy of the Gordie Howe Hat Trick and overall hustle.
2nd Star: "Mad" Matt Kilroy a goal, 2 assists. Not bad Matt but not as good as...
1st Star: Mike "Scoring" Daley for a FIVE, yes folks that is not a typo, five point night. 3 goals and 2 assists and we use him as a defenseman?

Great work as always iJosh. Thanks very much for another excellent game summary.

Everyone stay warm this week and check your email for roster info regarding next weeks game on Thursday night. That's all from here...