Sorry for the lateness of the game report. I usually do these the Monday after the game, but we went up to Big Bear.
This is literally the first chance I've had to sit down at a computer. BTW Big Bear was awesome. We got hammered by not one
but two massive snow storms. Living in SoCal it's nice to have some actual Christmas-time winter weather. Anyways, enough
about me.
The week leading up to Sunday's match was not exactly what we had hoped for. We only
got one half-ice practice and let's face it, it was not a great practice. During the off-ice warm-ups, the boys seemed out
of it and had trouble forming a circle for stretches. The pre-game skate was equally disappointing. Coach Sergey instructed
the boys to do 2-on-1's and they promptly went into the horseshoe. For both coaches, this looked like a disaster in the making.
The
worry Sergey and I had before the game became a frightening reality when the Ventura Mariners Bantam Killer Bees took the
ice against the Anaheim Jr. Ducks. We looked on in horror as the Ducks skated through our top line like they were practice
cones and scored 30 seconds in. For the first few minutes it seemed like the Mariners were skating in molasses. They were
under constant siege from the Ducks, and only Brian Felt's play in net kept this from being embarrassing.
After
a few choice words from the coaches, the boys woke up. Mid-period, the Mariners had an offensive zone draw. Killian Anderson
won the face-off to himself, shot the puck, got his own rebound and jammed it home. That's why you go to the net hard. A couple
minutes later, the first line got their stuff together with a tic-tac-toe passing play that saw Conrado Gesauldi giving the
team a lead. Unfortunately, the Jr. Ducks came right back 17 seconds later and tied things at two apiece.
Between
periods, a few more choice words were delivered. The boys needed to play better. Brian Zacchia thought Killian's goal was
pretty cool, but he felt he could streamline the process. On a Mariners offensive zone draw, Brian simply shot the puck from
the face-off and put it in the net. Wow, that was innovative. On the same shift, Brian Z. scored again, only this was a more
conventional goal. The Mariners were up by two and playing much better, but the pesky Ducks wouldn't go away. The hosts got
to within one and the middle frame would end with the Killer Bees clinging to a 4-3 lead.
During
the second intermission, I reminded the boys that we had a deal: win and we all go to Hoooters. Lose and it's Hometown Buffet.
I guess the allure of scantly clad women serving mediocre food was a major motivating factor because the kids came out screaming
in the third. Killian muscled a Duck off of the puck against the boards and raced to the net. As the defense collapsed in
on him, he delivered a perfect pass to Tyler Serianne, who smacked that thing through the back of the net. Not long after,
Brian Z. scored off of a nice Conrado feed to complete the hat-trick. On the same shift, Conrado scored his second goal of
the game. The floodgates were open.
AJ Zavitz, who already had 4 assists, decided he wanted in on
the action. He pounded one in off of another quality Conrado pass. Not long after, blue-liner Brad Kreigel ripped a nice point
shot and AJ cleaned up the rebound for his second goal and sixth point of the game. Conrado completed his hat-trick by crashing
the net and finishing off Tyler and Killian's hard work.
By this time, the game was wide open and
opportunities were everywhere. I really thought one of my defensemen was going to get one. The aforementioned Brad had several
good shots. Both Blake Burlew and Tom Dobrokhot were able to sneak in and get some good looks at the net. Zach Marshal had
an opportunity to play forward and nearly got one. The best defensive chances came from Patrick Gibson. He had one shift were
he'd shoot, the puck would come back to him and he he'd shoot again. This played out several times and it was a miracle that
he didn't put the puck in the net.
As the period was winding down, Josh Donovan got some statistical
confirmation of the hard work he'd put in all game long when ripped one past the goalie. However, they scored the goal to
EJ Frank. Now here's where it gets confusing. Josh still owed Killian a goal from many games ago. Now, EJ has to score one
for Josh, who can in-turn re-gift it to Killian. In any case, the boys won this crazy game 11-4, though the scoresheet has
the final as 11-3. They started out slow but finished with a vengeance. This was a huge win and a bold statement that I hope
carries through to the new year.
