Suds Clash with Clinic Game 1

Schlitz (24) vs Clinic
Tuesday March 17th
Dedham 9:20pm

4-4 Tie



The Suds were the first up on the St.Patty’s day Dedham Doubleheader, and took to the ice with a 3 game win streak to protect. There was some decent optimism in the room before the game, given the opponent, and everyone felt pretty good about our recent success.

Now, as game time approached there were not quite as many bodies in the room as management had hoped for. There had been several drop outs during the course of the day, but there was still some hope some extra bodies might just appear from under the rainbow… no luck. There were a hearty 9 ready to go when Campbell opened the door to the room. He was scheduled to only skate the nightcap but quickly donned his gear (forsaking the beers in his bag that he had planned on drinking while watching us…good man) and joined the crew to make an even 10.

So this is how it broke down.
Lizzy in net.
D1: Campbell, Reynolds
D2: Jeff, Elliott
O1: Nelson, Capraro, Fitzpatrick
O2: iJosh, Ken/Mitch, Scott
I think.

Firstly let it be noted, this Clinic squad was a bit fiestier than the average group we are used to. I’m just saying that there were a few more guys on the team that were clearly not just learning to play. Now… regardless of that the Golden Beercans didn’t make the best show of things in the early going.
There were some chances for the Gold, even a few shifts that stayed in the Clinic end and showed some solid promise. However… the game stayed 0-0 for the first 5-7 minutes. Then after a brief scramble in our end the Clinic D sent a nice shot through traffic (and a slight screen) that found the net. Gold down 1-0. Hrm.
To make matters worse, the Clinic would strike again, not more than 2 shifts later. This time a forward not picked up through the low post who made a very nice shot that beat Liz for a 2-0 lead. Double Hrmmm. Despite the verbal courage extolled on the bench the Beercans didn’t come up with anything. The period ended 2-0 Red.
The start of the 2nd wouldn’t bring any more good news for the Cans. The Clinic would score AGAIN, I don’t recall the exact circumstances but the Gold was certainly deflated being down 3-0 early in the second to a team they had hoped to spank.
At this point some of the crew for the second game was filter in and shaking their heads at the scoreboard and watching from the glass.
Finally the Gold would wake up and put a few plays together. Firstly Matty Elliot, who played a very solid game at D, scored on a nice shot, assisted by Pete Capraro. The ice was finally broken, and it wouldn’t take long for the thaw to continue. Next up would be Mark Reynolds who would do his best DWH or Stephan impression with a beauty of an end to end rush that ended up in a niffty shot that would bring the cans within a goal. 2-3. The roll would continue as the hard work of both iJosh and Ken would pay off, when iJosh would feed Ken in front for a nice goal that would tie the game. The Gold were downright excited to be back in the game and were clearly jumping to the puck a bit better than the early part of the game.
A good example would be the play of Ken/Mitch who did some nice work both in the offensive zone keeping the play alive, but more importantly a tremendous backcheck that saved a possible goal. Ken was called for the play but it was totally worth it, and great work by him to prevent the chance.
It was a game going down the stretch. A pretty even affair going back and forth in the 3rd period. The Clinic would show that they were not just pushovers and would land another goal to gain back the lead as time became short in the 3rd.
Once again, the blogger is glad to say, the Gold responded. Who do you think nutted it up, gave a little extra effort and willed the puck in the net… I’ll give you 2 guesses… go ahead… guess. Hey! You’re right (or you should have been). Nelson Sharfman would show why he is THE MAN and would simply push the play to the net relentlessly until the puck was in the net and the game was tied, now with less than 5 minutes remaining.
At the very least some dignity was preserved here but the game would end in a tie, 4-4. Not really the way we wanted to start the double header, but hey… at least we didn’t lose.
I’m not doing game stars for this one… but we will have some honorable mentions.

Honorable Mention1: Nelson. Dude just makes it happen when he needs to. THE MAN.
Honorable Mention2: Matt Elliot, another very solid D performance. Thanks for helping out.
Honorable Mention3: Ken/Mitch. A nice hard work goal and a penalty to boot!
Honorable Mention4: Campbell for joining us… when he could have been drinking. Thanks.

iJosh was nice enough to send along some items as well....
"Pete and I were in sync all night. Pete shoulda, coulda, woulda on a quick pass and shoot. He had open net, but give the goalie credit, he get the blocker on the puck and screamed "No soup for you!!!". Chances were there for the two of us, but the hockey gods were not on our side for this one.

Mitch however had the hockey gods smile at him as he planted himself perfectly in front of the net. After the Clinic took a little too much time getting to me just off to the side of the net, with Capraro just in front of me wide eyes toward the net and Mitch just beyond (with the slightly better position) I slide the puck to Mitch who promptly buried it to tie the game."
Thanks Josh!