Campbell serves the Call a loss with game winner

Schlitz (4) vs Last Call
Tuesday June 2nd
Hingham A 9:20pm


2-0 Win



Not bad for a Tuesday night on the South Shore. The golden Suds would assemble for some redemption from the Zombie game the night before, and in general looking to put a more positive look on the franchise. There was no lack of skaters. Despite some late arrivals we ended up with a full 13. Another one of the impressive rookie crop, Lizzies friend Steve showed hoping to find a spot if there were any no-shows. His enthusiasm is to be applauded but management would have to make a spot decision and Steve was understanding about the squad not wanting to go with 14. Again, usually this is a very safe move and I don’t want to discourage it for Steve or anyone else that is close to a game they know is happening. Drop outs happen and an extra set of legs is always welcome.
In fact our gal Lizzy was the scorekeeper for the night, so there were technically 16 'daveurs in the building. Always nice to see Liz even when she isn't on the ice...

So, putting the extras aside the Golden Beercans took the ice with the following lineup.
O1: Larry, Chris, and Jassman
O2: Dave, Neil, and Pete
O3: Dr.Pounds, Blake and Howard.
D1: James, Campbell
D2: George, Jeff
Nets: Kilroy

Not bad right? Pretty solid group and the Call clearly had their cast of usual characters and looked to have about 2 full lines, maybe an extra man. The game started off and settled quickly into a back and forth affair. It was clear from the early going that the the Gold was going to get their chances, the Call would counterpunch only occasionally but effectivly, and their keeper would stand tall all night. Not to say ours didn’t… in fact the Blogger is here to tell you that Kilroy had his best night in the pipes yet.
Both keepers were tested often enough in the first period to get into the game, although the Call keep did see significantly more rubber than Matty. It didn’t matter because the Gold played solid at both ends of the ice.

The first period would go scoreless and only one penalty called, an interference on Georgie that he was none too pleased with but the PK and Matty stood strong.

The Second Period was a carbon copy of the first, only with more panting. This period went down to the final five minutes before the Penalty bug would give a nip. Larry would go for a trip as he dropped a guy on the backcheck. That would have been fine if we didn’t decide to compound the problem with putting 5 guys on the ice and getting called for too many men 30 seconds later. Down 5-3 for the better part of 45 seconds or so the Gold did a great job rotating the guys on the ice and coming up with a tremendous kill. Matty figured in heavily here. For long stretches of the second the Gold had piled up the chances, now the Call had surged again and Matty had to make a series of stops and covers, including a downright niffty right leg kick save that was terrific. The CEO BMF was in top form and was there all night when we needed him.
On to the third.

This was the game that just didn’t want to be decided early. Thankfully there was no more penalties (until the very end) and the two teams went after each other with some determination. Good work all the way around, fast shifts, hard skating by everyon on the Gold roster. Dr. Pounds in particular had a nice night setting up a nice handfull of quality chances for his line. Blake would have 2 doorstep opportunities and a critical clear during his final shift. Howard even contributed after a brief period of confusion as to when to be on or off the ice, but that was quickly rectified.

It was closing in on 5 minutes remaining when the game finally saw its first tally. The line of Larry, Jasse and Chris had been generating good chances all night and finally got a break. Larry and Chris would hold it in the zone, and with Jasse would converge to make a great crowd in front of the Call’s keeper. Then Mike Campbell would step in and fire a low off speed shot that went right through the legs and under the goalie before he could flop down on it. 1-0 good guys.

The Call would try to rally, and to their credit, they had about two more surges in effort than I thought they had left in them, but it was to no avail. With a minute remaining they would pull their keeper but couldn’t get anything going. Larry would again figure in the play hand passing to himself, Jasse would help in the scramble, then Rookie sensation Neil Shah would pick up the loose puck and flick it into the open net for the nail in the Call’s cofffin.

Of course Kilroy would be tested one more time before the end, and once again answered the need with a solid play and preserved the win. A great job all the way around and a nice win to have.

Game Stars:

3rd Star: Mike Campbell for the game winner through traffic. Good play all night from the big defenseman, nice to see him get the winner.

2nd Star: Larry Bell. No question Larry was excieted to play last night and showed it by figuring in both goals and generally making a nuisence of himself all night. Good job.

1st Star: Do I have to say his name? You see the score. You know the deal. The CEO, BMF, our leader in the Nets. Fronting his first Shutout… ever. .... Matt Kilroy. Great work gobbling up loose pucks and getting on it when we needed him all night. You can see the improvement in Matt’s play this season even though its still early. That is only good news for all of us.

Honorable Mention: Has to go to Dr. Pounds for a terrific night centering the suprisingly productive 3rd line. He and his linemates did better than hold their own, they made stuff happen all night. Great work Doc.