Wow! What can you say about a game like that? Down 3-1 10 minutes into the first to end up on top 4-3 at the end of the period. The team was celebrating between periods and I had to remind them there were still 2 more periods to play. Tom, Nash, and Evan N. contributed for the goals in the first. Giving up a short handed goal doesn’t make a coach happy though. Number 8 from M-town was creating fits all night by scoring two of their goals in the first. In the second he scored 3 out of their 4. I’m not sure if anyone noticed but he was out there for 3 consecutive shifts multiple times. They obviously don’t have the same philosophy our club does where everyone through the developmental program gets equal playing time. Not to mention he really isn’t a team player. I really didn’t see him pass a lot. It took a little while for our D to challenge him a little better and Evan W was the first to respond. Shortly after that, some of our O figured it out also that if they put some pressure on him early he could cough it up. Dallas challenged him and then the others followed suit. We didn’t contain him well enough though. M-town took the lead back in the second and then the see-saw battle began. We got a couple of scores from Tom (completing a hat trick) and Zak in the second and found ourselves down 6-7 at the close of the (cont)

(cont) period. Our second period goals came from “special teams”. One as a power play and the other as a short handed goal. All this was possible because of the play that preceded it. Meaning nothing more than we were stepping up to stay in the game. In the 3rd period we were able to jump on top again by scores from Tom and Evan N and my worst fear happened less than 20 seconds later when we gave up a goal. This was to be followed up by one of their goals less than a minute later. There was only about 2 ½ minutes left in the game at that point. So, now when will the coach call his time out and pull the goalie? Watching the clock tick by and approaching the one minute mark I was starting to sweat. Finally at 1:06 the play stopped. I started to raise my hands to call time, but for whatever reason I saw the M-town coach signaling time. An unusual call for the team in the lead, but it still left me ours. We pulled our goalie and it got a little dicey there for a while with the puck in our zone. Finally, we were able to get it back out and put some pressure on them. We got their goalie to freeze the puck with 14 seconds left. Changed a little bit for the face off and a player or two, but the clock was not in our favor. Tough night, good game, nothing to be ashamed of. The payday bar went to Evan Weaver. He was on his game tonight and figured out first how to try to corral number 8. Great job. Walk with your heads high! Don’t mind losing a game like that.

In the locker room before the game I asked if anyone knew about their opponent. The general consensus was they were not that good. I reminded them to beware. The reason you play the game is for the winner to be decided. I think we got off to a slow start believe it or not. 4 minutes into the game we got a goal from Dallas with an assist by Zak to open it up. I believe Brenden called the goal top shelf before it happened. Almost another 4 minutes later Tom put one into the net with an assist from the goalie. Way to put it behind the net Trent. But, 30 seconds later MC let their presence known and got one by Trent. We ended the 1st up 3-1 with another goal by Dallas getting the assist from B-ryan. Between periods I tried to remind them that they still have to play the game with the skills and systems that have been presented to them at practices. With that we had a 4 goal 2nd period with two each from Dallas and Zak. Assists came from Colin, Kellie, and B-ryan. Coach Molloy and I thought this was a far better period from a team work stand point. There were a lot of positives throughout the period. Once we got up by 6 goals we put the 3 pass rule in the offensive zone into effect. This can actually work with adverse effects, but I think the players managed it well. (cont)

(cont) There is something to learn; this rule can work in a more competitive game. Puck moves, opposing players can get caught out of position, and the goalie moves. Ask Trent what that means. The third period rewarded us with another goal by Dallas and the assist came from Zak. They tried to set up Kyle throughout the game to no avail, but I love the spirit. While the final score was 8-1, this by no means was a cake walk. A lot of things could have changed the outcome. We only had 30 shots…a good total, but MC had 19. Some of these 19 were quality shots where Trent came up big. Had some of these gone in versus Trent stoning them, MC could have certainly been back in it. For the night – two hat tricks – Dallas and Tom. For the Payday bar I tried to keep it suspenseful. This player hid behind the scenes, had no assists or goals. But, he was there every shift. When MC was trying to move the puck forward our D was there to counter. Cut, there are others coming and we have to pick them up. Nash stepped up to the challenge. A good forward will play both ends of the ice. Nash’s back checking tonight was a coach’s dream for a forward. Take the puck in deep, but back check hard to help our D. This was our last home game and what a way to go out. We can still do better. WE only have about another 7 weeks until the season is over. Practice hard…play harder. Go Knights!

While I wasn't there because I had to attend the JV game at TPE, the MS team squared off against our neighbors to the northeast (Warwick). Warwick jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 6 minutes of the first period. One of the goals came from a penalty shot. The second and third periods were for the most part an even contest with Warwick putting up one more goal towards the end of the 2nd period. We walked away knowing we need to improve on our breakout and self destructed on odd man rushes into the offensive zone. Practice tomorrow, so hopefully we can pick up the pieces. Having only 7 shots on goal will not win games. Jared Gander took the honors of the Payday bar. He has worked hard in practice for being a newcomer to the team and put it all together tonight for his most well rounded out game. He was where he needed to be when, and got the ice cutting smoothly beneath his skates. Go Knoghts!