Standings after October 14th games:
1. Sky Blue 4 (14/5)
2. Gray 4 (15/8)
3. Orange 4 (16/11)
4. Yellow 1 (8/14)
5. Black 0 (11/17)
6. Red 0 (5/14)
Jeremy Johnson and Tony Benanti made their way out of retirement last night, while Zac Gray made his Reynoldsville debut. Zach Foradori and Kaden Coulter filled in for some missing guys on team Black. Sky Blue goalie Chris Snyder is turning into the XHL version of Sam Darnold with 2 quality performances in net to start off the 2024 fall league.
Blue 8 Yellow 3
Unfortunately, Ben Rossi notified Larry that he would not be available to play last night while Brice Miller notified me that he would not be available to play. With the team already having 7 skaters on the roster, I didn’t bother looking for a replacement but I was not aware that Ben would be missing as well or else we could have had Yellow pick someone up to try to even the playing field. On a good note, Tony Benanti was able to make it despite receiving a shirt that was a little too small. Him and Vinnie got that figured out by the time the game ended. It just wasn’t yellow’s night considering the miscommunication of 2 missing players and 2 guys getting the wrong shirt sizes. Team Blue went ahead 5-1 at the end of the first period and never looked back. Jake Kline was really excited to take Cody’s place last night (not really). Anthony Schuckers led the way for team blue offensively and they did a good job defensively to prevent team yellow from getting many quality opportunities. In net, Bubba did his job when needed and his team has 2 convincing wins to show for it. Fred Terwilliger scored a nice goal late in the 3rd period for yellow but the damage was already done by then. Team Blue and Team Gray will meet next week. Cody Haag was not able to make it for blue last night.
Gray 8 Red 3
Red was missing pretty much their whole team last night, including Henry Sutter. Adam took his place and did not have much time to blink an eye. Team Gray fired many shots his way throughout the night. It took some good passing, good shots and some rebounds from Gray to finally get some shots past him. Jeremy Johnson got off the couch to come fill in for team red last night and provided a lift defensively. His wife and daughter came with him just in case he needed help walking out of the rink last night. The long layoff could have made it tough for him to get out of bed this morning. On a good note, he responded to an interview which is posted below. Troy Gaydosh scored 2 goals for red to keep them within a goal of tying the game in the 3rd period but team gray would eventually slowly pull away. Gray was only up 3-1 going into the 3rd period thanks to some good goal tending from Adam. Tony Dodd played a very solid game in net for team gray. Jason Stamler scored red’s first goal with about 5 minutes to go in the 2nd period to pull red to within a goal at 2-1. Stamler and Waltman filled in for some missing guys on red (Pompeii and Wehner). Cory Schuckers and Bob Anderson scored first period goals for Gray. They would both add a couple important 3rd period goals as well. Zach Smith set Bob up for a goal to increase the lead to 2. Smith would later score a couple goals of his own and set Brian Anderson up for a goal in front of the net to put gray comfortably ahead. Trent Bembenic added a 3rd period goal as well. Jeremy Johnson will be available every other Monday if we need some fill ins. Gray had everyone present last night.
Orange 10 Black 6
Zac Gray made his Reynoldsville debut last night and made his presence known throughout the game. It was tiring just watching him skate around the floor. By the midway point of the 3rd period, he said he had used up a lot of his energy. Him and Jason Stamler look like they have been teammates for many years after watching last nights game. They set one another up for some goals throughout the game. Alex Waddell scored on a nice faceoff win in the 2nd period. Orange never trailed but black would not go away. They tied the game late in the first period thanks to goals from Andy and Jerred Amick (fill in). Orange went up 5-2 midway thru the 2nd period but Black answered with 2 goals with one of the goals coming from Zach Foradori on a faceoff win. Andy scored the other to close the gap to 5-4 late in the 2nd period. Zac Gray and Jason Stamler helped Orange pull away in the 3rd period. Zach Foradori filled in for Corey Bassett on team black. Kaden Coulter was available to goalie last night so he played goal for Black so John Matchock could skate out for Orange. Matchock will be back on double duty next week in his skate out role for Orange and his goalie role for black. We let him ref at 7:20 to make up for him not having to goalie last night. Clint did a good job for Orange in net last night as team black had some scoring chances to close the gap in the 3rd period. Anytime black got some momentum, team orange took it away pretty quick. Orange improved to 2-0 on the season. Black will try to get their first win next week against team yellow.
Zac Gray (Orange)
1. 10-6 win over team black last night. What can you say about the overall team effort in the win? Great team effort. Every time black scored we responded well and didn’t let them pick up momentum
2. How would you compare the style of play with a ball to the style of play using a puck? . Haven’t played indoor with a ball in over 20 years. Will take some getting used to controlling shot placement.
3. It looks like you have played your share of hockey. Have you played in a lot of leagues in the past? Grew up playing in Eastern PA ice and roller. Very thankful to have been introduced to these new leagues by Alex, the drive from State College is long but well worth the fun
4. What kind of expectations do you have for your team in this league going forward? . The team will develop better chemistry and should get stronger moving forward. I’ve played a lot with Rob and Alex in State College so we have a bit of a head start.
5. Besides hockey, are there any other sports you like to watch or play? . Watch hockey a ton. Do long distance running and lots of long 30+ mile hikes on the Appalachian trail.
Jeremy Johnson (Red fill in)
1. You made your way back to the court last night. Are you able to move around without pain today? Ha, a little sore, not nearly as bad as I was expecting though! I expected the worst and hoped for the best. Thought I'd be bedridden, so better than I anticipated.
2. Any idea on when you last played competitive hockey? The wife remembers being pregnant with our daughter, and I was in a Randy Carlson tournament. So, about 5-6 years ago
3. How would you compare the competition and skill level now to when you last played hockey? About the same as I last remember playing? Just a lot of new faces and a few familiar faces.
4. What made you want to get back into it? I've been itching for a long time now. I've had some right ankle issues, and then being out for so long made it harder to what to play again because of falling further out of shape. My daughter loved watching her brother Curtis play this summer helped to push me to get back into it and the start of the NHL season.
5. The game was close last night until the end. How would you describe the team effort and what do you think went wrong at the end? Team Red played very consistent from start to finish! I know come the 3rd period I didn't have much left in the tank and that didn't help. For myself, not ever playing with anyone except Jason in the past, it was trying to learn and get use to everyone's playing style and skill. Gray Team just stayed focused and continued to build on their lead.
Jerred Amick (Sky Blue)
1. Blue must be your color since you are having success in the Brockway draft league and have won 2 in a row to start this league. What can you say about the overall team effort in last nights win over team yellow? Most of the scoring and hustle is coming from the forwards as everyone has been winning the small battles and forcing the other team to make bad passes and bad decisions and turn it over.
2. The biggest question for this team may be in goal considering the lack of him playing for a while. How do you think the goal tending and defense has looked these first 2 games? Bubba has stood there handsomely the first two games. We’ve been able to keep up with teams to minimize the shots and play good defense. I think he might need some smelling salts, I saw him nodding off in net.
3. How do you compare Jake’s style of play to Cody’s style of play? Jake is pretty much pure defense which is always reliable for me to play full dedicated offense, plus I know he can only hit the net when he’s playing against my team. Where with cody I’m usually doing a hybrid mid role and always have to been conscious if I need to cover on d while Cody is producing offense.
4. You had a good summer by winning the srhl championship. How would you describe the teams season overall and were you pleased with how the league went overall? The season had its ups and downs and we definitely hit our stride at the perfect time. I account this to interim healthcare, as that was a hard fought series and we needed everyone to step it up and dig deep. The Knights had a gravy train to the finals and they were totally not ready for the intensity and momentum we were riding from the interim series win.
5. If the weather cooperates, team blue will play team yellow in Brockway tomorrow night. What kind of game are you expecting? The only thing I can expect from that team for sure is Waddell running his mouth and then slashing me after I dangle him for the forth time that period…
***Keep checking this throughout the next couple days. We have 4 additional interviews out there if they respond***
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