It just wouldn’t be travel hockey without a little controversy to keep things interesting. The latest chapter saw Tom Dobrokhot made ineligible because of a paperwork SNAFU. To make matters worse, Coach Paddy was suspended for letting a non-rostered player on the ice. In an effort to not exacerbate this situation any further, I will keep my personal opinion to myself and move on to the game.

            Sunday morning saw our Ventura Mariners Pee Wee B team traveling to the armpit of Orange County to take on the Yorba Linda Blackhawks. With Tom unavailable, we were all relieved to see Nick Lilly show up because he was listed as a game-time decision. From the first shift, it was obvious that the Mariners came to play. They overwhelmed the Blackhawks and attacked with both precision and fury. Nothing illustrates this better than the first goal. The defense broke the puck out and moved it up the wing to Danny Gold. Danny hit Corey Werden streaking up the center, who zipped a pass to a wide-open Killian Anderson. With a full head of steam, Killian roofed it in the far corner of the net. It was a perfect breakout and a thing of beauty. These kids never did it this good in practice, yet executed it flawlessly in a game.

            That was just the beginning of the offensive assault. Liam Stirtzinger got a pair of goals; one muscled in, the other finessed. Nick Cerezo made a great heads-up play when he buried a rebound. Killian added a couple more for the un-natural hat-trick and Corey finished up the scoring with top-shelfer.

            The scoring was just part of the story. The Mariners dominated the offensive zone attack time. Tough-as-nails Nick Guttenkunst bullied kids twice his size off the puck and got it to the net. With some mighty quick hands, Chad Di Lauro turned a back-check into a scoring chance. Sam Taferner launched pucks at the goalie with regularity. One of the best performances from a forward came in the form of Danny O’Donnell, though it was his attention to defense that made it so. Danny O. was a fearsome physical force. In the first period alone, he activated the dental plans of three Blackhawk players with his Earth-shattering hits.

            The Mariners defense was equally as great. No one plays the body better than Cameron Torres. His patience and timing are only matched by the ferocity in which he unleashes the hit. For some reason, the Blackhawks kept trying to deke him, and ended up puckless on their backsides. The way that Koa Chu intercepts and neutralizes a puck-carrier reminds me of a surface-to-air missile taking out a jet-fighter. Every time the opposing team thought they had some room to skate, Koa let them know that they didn’t. Jared Turcotte used his vision to take chances on offense, and his speed to get back on D. Nick L. was confidant with the puck as he moved it out of our zone. Mr. Matt Johnson added some brutality to his pitch-perfect defense.

            Basically, the Blackhawks couldn’t compete with the Mariners on this day. They were unable to skate with our boys so they switched tactics and tried to intimidate them. They soon discovered that messing with the Mariners is like poking at a hornet’s nest: a bad idea that will result in pain. As the game was winding down, our kids were sitting on a 7-0 lead. There was only one thing left to prove. Goalie Mark Becica played tall in net, turning away 17 shots, many in spectacular fashion. As the clock ticked down to zero, Marky got a well-deserved shutout.

            Coaches and parents alike couldn’t have been more proud of the way the boys played. For the second week in a row they put 40+ shots on goal. They skated hard and moved the puck well. The forwards used their points and there was plenty of D-to-D passing. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear these kids are starting to look like a hockey TEAM. The penalty situation was an issue again. I know Paddy and Sergey want the boys to play with more discipline, but most of the infractions were a result of the kids sticking up for there teammates. I, personally, find that absolutely beautiful.

            There’s an unwritten rule that say you don’t pull a goalie who has a shut-out going. Because of this, Gianluca Allen didn’t get a chance to play. One of the things I like to do with these reports is mention something positive each of the kids did in the game. Due to the circumstances I can’t really do that, so I’ll just say that Gianluca is an awesome kid. I’m sure he’ll get the chance to play the entire game next week.

            Also, I was going to say something nice about Coach Gary, but he threw an empty beer can at me, so he gets no love in this week’s report. If he wants to get back in my good graces he should try tossing me a full beer instead.