Sunday morning the Ventura Mariners Bantam Killer Bees played host to the Inland Valley Wild. Advanced scouting reported
that this former "A" team played a very physical brand of hockey. The boys really had no idea what they were in for but quickly
found out. The Wild came out, elbows high, and introduced themselves to the heads of the Mariners skaters. Our kids couldn't
go into the corner without getting a punch to the back of the head or a face-first trip to the glass. Eventually the officials
caught on to this dirty play and began calling some of it. Mid-way through the first period, the Mariners got on the board
with a sweet Jason Hart power-play goal.
The Wild were caught by surprise. They probably thought
they were going to drop to the "B" division and walk all over everyone, but here they were losing 1-0 and getting outplayed.
They swapped out their goalie, shortened the bench and turned up the cheap-shots. The Mariners did an admirable job withstanding
the onslaught, but the Wild's scorched Earth policy had built them a 3-1 lead. A few minutes into the second period, Conor
Gleason picked up the puck skated through the Wild power-play unit and ripped a beauty of a shorthanded goal to the far side.
The Wild came right back and regained their two-goal lead. In the waning moments of the middle frame, Shane Heller cranked
a shot from the point that Killian Anderson deflected into the top corner. The boys were back within one.
The
Wild opened the third period with a goal, once again going up by two. This was a crazy game to be sure. Our boys didn't get
discouraged, they kept fighting. They pressed and attacked and forced the Wild into taking penalty after penalty. Both Conor
and Jason had some unbelievable break-away chances. Unfortunately, the power-play couldn't get it done and the Mariners ended
up losing 5-3. They played well enough to win, and if a few bounces went their way they would have, but it wasn't meant to
be. I'm proud of the way they handled themselves and I think the coaches are too.
After getting shutout
last week and getting only 6 shots on net, the offense definitely kicked it up a notch. Luke Tickle had several glorious scoring
chances that just slipped away. Brian Zacchia was shooting, passing, hitting and playing like a maniac. He also got an assist
on the Mariners first goal. Niko Utash was not feeling well, but still managed to knock a puck out of the air and get it in
close. Corey Werden was among the walking wounded but it didn't stop his furious fore-checking. TJ Samuel led the rush every
shift and got the puck into a threatening position. The Mariners improved from 6 shots to 23 and that ain't not bad.
Defensively,
the boys were equally as strong. The stuff that was getting though was because of lucky bounces and flukey broken plays. Cameron
Torres was standing guys up at the blue line and Patrick Dalton was knocking them down in the corners. Tom Dobrkhot did a
great job of keeping the puck alive in the offensive zone and Blake Burlew made some great outlet passes. Josh Kuchinski was
the physical force he needs to be for his team to succeed. Most impressive of all was JB Lovelace. Not only was he strong
defensively, he got off some great shots from the point and even assisted on Killian's goal.
As the
last line of defense, Gianluca Allen had to be huge in net. His mom missed the game and I was teasing his dad that I would
write that he played the game of the century. The reality is, Gianluca played great. He turned aside 21 tough shots, including
one that will certainly make the highlight reel. Gialuca was down and out and the Wild player had nothing but net to shoot
on. Somehow he flopped over and got a piece of the puck. I know he's an Osgood fan, but this was a Hasek save all the way.
As
I said, the boys played a very good game. They had the majority of the offensive zone attack time and the better of the scoring
chances. They didn't get rattled by a team that was playing way over the line. They never gave up and they did it with class.
The thing about it is, in "A" hockey the coach plays his top players as much as he needs to in order to win. "B" hockey is
supposed to be a developmental league where everyone gets equal ice time. Too often, when an "A" team drops to "B" they bring
with them that higher level mentality. Sergey and Jere rolled the lines against a team that shortened their bench and still
took them to the brink. It may not be much, but it's a moral victory.
News & Notes: Mark Becica was the back up in this game and as you know I like to give
all of the kids some print-time. I wasn't really around this week so I don't have anything witty or interesting to say about
him. I probably shouldn't bring up the 17-0 lambasting he took in our fantasy hockey league. In all fairness to Mark I think
it's his dad's poor management skills that are responsible for that.
