Schlitz (3) vs Wolverines (2) Friday September 17
Quincy 9:30pm Blue Jackets Division Playoffs
4-3 Loss
The skating Beercans continued to look for playoff glory as they met the Wolverines in Quincy for a rare Friday night Playoff Treat. Management scrounged together a roster but was shy of the full 13 we like to have, and unfortunately we didn't even have ten when the game began.
Team Suds went to war with the Michigan Wannabees with 9 and a good attitude. AK would show late in the first and would make us a nice even ten. For some reason Ken was in an email time warp and didn't get that the game was in Quincy... so after a short visit to the BU rink he made it to us in time to contribute.
Here is your Schlitz Roster
Lizzy in Net
D1: DWH and iJosh
D2: Daley and Jeff
O1: Baker, AK, Gregson
O2: Nelson, Jasse, and Roman
or something like that. The forwards shuffled quite a bit...
The game was a pretty even match. The Wolvies had their yellow shirts on (aren't they supposed to be Big Blue?) so team Beercan skated as the Dead in Red which threw off the scorekeeper but after some explanation... we got it together.
The Wolverines have some older dudes but in general are a pretty young club. The certainly had a pair of guys that needed minding, 20 and 19 both with red helmets and wheels. The Red Suds would have to keep an eye when and where they were on the ice all night.Play got going and it looked decent for the Red early on. DWH was already in good form making chances and controlling the play in our end. Dan would wind up a beauty and would get the first goal of the game unassisted with that nice shot.
Unfortunately Yellow would come right back on the next shift about a minute later and tie the game. It was obvious from early on this one was going to be a good matchup and a back and forth battle.
Red would strike again 10 minutes into the period when Baker and Daley would put on a passing clinic in the Yellow end. A nice zip zap zip and Baker would bury the chance for a 2-1 lead. This held until the closing seconds of the first when 20 for Yellow would get loose in our end and would bury his own nice shot (unassisted) and it was tied 2-2 at the end of one.
If the blogger is reading the hashmarks at the bottom of the scoresheet correctly the Red Suds outshot the Yellow badgers 6 to 4. Its not often we get a scorekeeper that does shots...
The Second was more back and forth and the Red kind of found their groove now that AK had shown up and we had 2 full lines to rotate. Just 2 minutes into the frame Nelson would feed Roman right out front and the Red would go back up 3-2. The Red would continue to get good chances as the period went on. The Yellow keeper did a fair job turning away chances and Lizzy was holding tight on our end. The Red definitely had more chances but the inevitable came 10 minutes in when Yellow 20 (again) would break one off after a scramble in our end. The game was tied again and despite a Yellow penalty in the closing minutes the Red couldn't get anything else to fall and the Second ended 3-3. Again according to the hash marks the Red out chanced the Yellow 9 to just 5.
The third period didn't keep the same pace as the first two as both teams slowed a bit. Yellow seemed to take advantage of this a bit better than the Red and less than 2 minutes into the period they
would strike (21 from 19 & 22) to take a 4-3 lead. Yellow was doing a strong job of counterpunching the Red and it was getting harder to keep things going.Despite that the comeback climb was on. The Red Cans would rally and press the play and with about 9 minutes left in the game Nelson would slide the puck under the keepers pads and it would creep across the line for the tie. Doctor Jasse on the assist who had been camped out front after getting a handful of good chances himself.
Down the stretch they came, now tied 4-4 and both teams pressing. In this period the shot differential was much closer and for the first time all night Yellow out shot Red 10-9.
You could kind of see it coming friends, as you may have had the feeling while reading this that the inevitable collapse was on the way and with less than 2 minutes on the clock it came.
20 (what a surprise) would set up 11 and they would bang bang close the door on this game with a go ahead goal. Despite stacking a line and pulling Lizzy the Red Cans couldn't get anything going like they had on Monday night and there was no golden last second goal.
Too bad. 5-4 loss and a trip to the "losers" bracket for the rest of the way for the Suds.
4th period Kudos to Dr. Jasse and Gregson who both brought tastey beverages.
Props to our two young fans the Greenstein boys Elliot and Lewis who cheered and shivered all night for the cause. Thanks for coming guys!
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