Orange 7 Red 2
No matter the color they wear, team orange, or in last nights case, team black, remains unbeaten in the playoffs and is just a win away from a fall league championship. Team leader Alex Waddell was hesitant to draft a team again after his team went 2 and out in the double elimination playoffs last season, but this years team seems to have put it all together since the season started back in early October. They finished first overall in the regular season and won a couple playoff games without Zac Gray in the lineup. They had him back in the lineup last night and while he did not score, he was still flying around the court like he usually does. They avoided having to play two games by beating Red 7-2 last night. Jason Stamler led the way offensively with 4 goals while John Matchock added 2 goals. Rob Reed contributed the other goal. Orange (wearing black last night) led 2-0 after the 1st period and stretched the lead to 4-1 by the end of the 2nd period. Red was forced to play a little more aggressively in the 3rd period which led to some more good opportunities for orange to stretch their lead, which they did. Clint continues to play well and is a big reason why his team is a win away from a fall league championship. The loss forced team red to have to play another game at 820 last night, which they lost in heartbreaking fashion 9-8 in overtime. See below for a full recap of that game.
Gray 6 Sky Blue 3
Bubba was a late game scratch for Sky Blue, forcing Clint to goalie another game. He actually had to leave after the 2nd period due to some discomfort. Sky Blue was also missing Jerred Amick and Tyler Stitt which opened the door for Josh Clontz and Laken to fill in. Gray once again had a full lineup and started out fast by scoring 4 first period goals. Bob scored the first one, Cory scored one and set Brian up for another to give gray a 3 goal lead less than 6 minutes into the game. Zach Smith did some damage as well to help keep gray comfortably ahead throughout. Tony Dodd played a solid game in net for gray. Cody Haag almost sneaked one in on him in the 2nd period, but Steve Hetrick was able to get the ball away from the line before it could trickle in. That was the story of the game for blue. Jake Kline scored just as the 2nd period ended to give blue their first goal but they weren’t able to close the gap anymore until late in the 3rd period. Tyler Waltman and Anthony Schuckers each had late goals to close the gap to 6-3 but that’s as close as they would get. The win ended sky blue’s season while gray got the pleasure of playing a 2nd straight game without much rest.
Gray 9 Red 8
It was each team’s 2nd game of the night and it showed as the game went on. Cory Schuckers couldn’t even finish the game for gray while it appeared that a lot of others, maybe even the goalies, were on their last leg. Henry Sutter played 7 plus periods of hockey last night (he played the 3rd period of the 2nd game plus 6 periods of his regular games and overtime to go along with it). It may have showed when Trent Bembenic made a pass to Zach Smith around the midcourt stripe and skated a little more to get a good shot off from the side to give gray a 9-8 overtime win. It’s a shot that Henry saves the majority of the time, but this one found a way by him. Team Red had nothing to hang their head about. For most of the season, they were simply trying to get enough players to play as Noah had some bad luck drafting people who did not show up for the games. Recently, the team has played with a pretty consistent lineup and it showed as the final weeks of the regular season and playoffs went on. Last nights game was no different. Each time gray got ahead, red would quickly answer. The game went back and forth the whole way with each team giving the other their best shot. With Gray ahead 8-7 late in the 3rd period, they got caught a little deep opening up the door for Troy Gaydosh to get a good shot on Tony Dodd which Dodd initially saved but the ball found a way to Noah’s stick with a wide open net in front of him to tie the game up at 8. Gray actually had a 2 goal early in the 3rd period when they converted a power play when Bob Anderson’s shot was stopped by Henry but it found its way to Brian Anderson which just barely got past Henry to give gray a 2 goal cushion. In a game like this, a 2 goal lead seemed like a lot, but Red answered with 2 goals. Zach Foradori scored twice for red including one in the 3rd period to close the gap to 7-6 and Peach later scored from the side of the net to tie the game at 7 when the ball somehow snuck by several people including Tony Dodd. Bob Anderson gave gray the lead again late in the 3rd period but the lead went away again near the end of regulation. Gray went up 1-0 to start the game (Bob) but Red answered with 2 goals (Morgan and Zach Foradori) before Zach Smith set Brian Anderson up for a goal late in the first period to tie the game at 2. The game went back and forth in the 2nd period with Gray opening up a 6-5 lead by the end of it. Cory Schuckers and Troy Gaydosh led the way offensively for their respective teams in the 2nd period while Noah Kline and Zach Smith chipped in as well. Gray got revenge from last week’s loss to red but will still need to win 2 more games against Orange next week to make up for losing to red last week. A win against Red last week would have given them a much easier path to a championship, but they accomplished half of their goal last night by defeating Sky Blue and Red to open up the opportunity to play next week. Orange and Gray only played once in the regular season with Orange winning (can’t remember the score but can remember Clint leading the way for orange in the win). While red lost twice last night, they saved their best for the end. We would like to congratulate them on a good season. Good luck to orange and gray next week.
Zach Foradori (Red)
1. 2 games, 2 losses. What can you say about the overall team effort in each game and how are you feeling physically following the games? Everyone played well, when you have Henry you always have a chance. Clint made great saves too and just kind of took the wind out of our sails. I feel fat like I do every Tuesday
2. The game against gray went back and forth the whole way. Did you consider it an enjoyable game to be a part of or was your body starting to wear down by that point? When I’m playing in those close games I really don’t feel too worn down but after I always think “why do I keep coming here every Monday”
3. Zach snuck one by Henry in overtime. Do you think Henry may have just misplayed the ball a little or did you think Zach got off one of his usual good shots on that? Zach made a good shot. Wasn’t Henry’s fault at all, I should have blocked it.
4. Speaking of good shots, you had your share in that game and last night. Are you happy with how you are playing right now (considering you took a break from hockey over the summer)? I feel okay, it helps when I can just be a fat tub of lard on the back end and every once in a while creep up and rip one.
5. It seems like anyone’s game right now in the nfl. Who do you think are the favorites to go to the super bowl? The Bills offense looks as unstoppable as my fantasy football teams, and the Eagles defense looks really good. I’m going to guess Eagles over the Bills on the Super Bowl with Saquon winning Super Bowl MVP
Bob Anderson (Gray)
1. 2 games, 2 wins. How are you feeling physically following 2 hard fought wins?
Good today but I was definitely tired by the end of game 2 last night. I'll be ready for 2 more next week hopefully. :)
2. You guys got up 3-0 early in the first game. Do you think that set the tone for the rest of the evening for your team?
I definitely think getting up early was important. With back-to-back games, playing with a lead is even more important. It's harder when you have to battle back. You have to exert more energy. I also think getting up early helped conserve Tony a bit for the second game as we were able to focus a bit more on our defense and try to keep the shots down.
3. Sky blue got Clint to goalie last night but they were also missing Jerred and Tyler Stitt. What kind of game were you expecting going into it?
Personnel makes a huge difference. Those are big losses. Adding Clint helped but not having Cody, Amick, and Tyler changes that team immensely. I felt pretty good about our chances in that game if we played smart and played good defense in front of Tony. That's not to take anything away from blue though. They had a great season!
4. A wild 9-8 win over red. What can you say about the game overall and what do you think the team did better against them last night compared to the game against them last week?
I've got to tip my hat to Team Red. They stepped it up in the playoffs and were a tough out. I figured that would be a good game and it didn't disappoint.
One big difference last night was not having Jake in the lineup. He is a difference maker. But they still had plenty of good players. Noah is a handful to contain and Troy played lights out. The rest of the group complimented the others well. Then, when you put Henry in net, you know that nothing will come easy. I wasn't surprised it was a back-and-forth game and I never felt comfortable in that game for a second.
Again, playing with a lead helped. We may have trailed by a goal at some point in the contest, but I think we held the lead for a majority of the game time. That meant we didn't have to take as many chances as we did the week before.
5. You guys only played orange once this season and will have to beat them twice next week. What have you observed from them through playing them and reffing some of their games?
I think Orange has been the most impressive team in the league all season. They don't have any weaknesses and they have good chemistry. They'll be hard to beat once let alone twice. They beat us the only time we played during the regular season. I was hoping we'd have a chance to try our luck against them again, and we got our wish. It'll take our best to win but I'm looking forward to the challenge!
Sent a couple additional interviews as well. They will be posted here once they respond.
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