Please bear with me this week. I'm still sick and heavily medicated. If this report seems incoherent or pointless blame
the NyQuil. Speaking of illness, this team has been ravaged by the flu. Most of the kids and coaches spent the week being
sick. To top it off, we had to play without Niko because of pneumonia and Tyler managed to explode his eardrum. I think he
accidentally heard a Taylor Swift song and it was his body's way of protecting itself. In any case, going into a game against
one of the better teams in the league our boys were far less than 100% and it could have spelled disaster.
But
this is the Ventura Mariners Bantam Killer Bees and they find a way to rise against adversity. Granted, their opponent, the
San Diego Jr. Gulls, were also apparently below capacity, but the boys in blue came out strong. Brian Zacchia slid to an open
spot in the low slot and Conrado Gesauldi fed him the perfect pass. The goalie got all twisted around and Brian Z. ripped
a perfect shot to score the game's first goal. Later in the period, line #1 would strike again on a beautiful tic-tac-toe
play. On a three-on-two rush, the puck entered the zone and went from Brian Z. to Conrado and AJ Zavitz finished it off with
a great put in. The depleted Mariners had this game by the horns.
The biggest challenge for Coach
Sergey was what to do about line #2. With both Niko and Tyler out it was looking like the helicopter line: no wings. Against
his centerman's wishes he paired Killian Anderson with converted d-men Zach Marshall and Patrick Gibson. I thought this line
was going to be terrible given the fact that neither kid had played or practiced offense all year, but somehow it worked.
The break-out was shaky and there wasn't much chemistry in the set-up, but the line succeeded on pure effort. Zach had several
great chances and Patrick would have scored if he could stay on his skates. Killian elevated his game and hammered away at
the Gulls with sheer brutality. The line finally struck gold in the second, when Killian hit Zach with a perfect stretch pass
behind the Gulls' defense. Zach steaked in on net and scored.
The Mariners were up 3-0 and in control.
Then, a goofy turnover led to the Jr. Gulls getting on the board. Here's where it gets weird. The ref came over to me and
told me that goalie Brian Felt had told him moments earlier that when he got the shut-out the ref would have to buy him a
cookie. Not long after that statement, the shut-out was gone. We've gone over how prematurely using the "S" word throws down
the whammy, but I've never seen a goalie jinx his own shut-out. Despite that minor indiscretion Brian F. was strong in net
and would finish with 18 saves.
The other coaching concern of the game was the fact that we were
going with just four defenseman. We were worried that the boys might get tired and start playing sloppy. Luckily the blue-line
crew was up to the task. Obvioulsly Blake Burlew's wrist was all healed up. He was smashing bodies the way we've come to expect
from him. Luke Tickle was rock solid and Brad Kriegel played great at both ends. We often tease Tom Dobrokhot about his point
shot. There have been times that his mighty slap shot only travels a few feet. Last week against the Jr. Kings, he passed
up several opportunities to get the puck on net probably because he was lacking in confidence. He started this game the same
way; giving up good scoring chances for safe corner dumps. After a few kind words from Sergey, Tom got another chance. He
ripped a heck of shot that just missed the top corner. It was beautiful and hopefully he is a little more sure about his abilities.
The
third line had another great game as well. Shawn Wentzel finally started using his size and laid some bone crushing hits.
EJ Frank was very aggressive on the fore-check and caused a number of turnovers. Josh Donovan had the offense cranked up generating
a number of good scoring chances.
The Mariners had a 3-1 lead going into the third period. Conrado
decided it wasn't enough and scored off a nice pass from AJ. Good thing he did, because the Gulls scored with about 3 minutes
left to close within two. This one wasn't quite over yet. With about a minute and a half left, San Diego pulled their goalie
for the extra attacker. Killian pressured the puck at the point and fought tooth and nail to get the puck out of the zone.
Conrado swooped in and banged the puck into the empty net. Interestingly enough, down by 3, San Diego would again pull their
goalie. The Mariners killed off the clock and won 5-3.
Gold Rush
Okay, I gave AJ
so much crap about the US win over Canada last week that I feel I need to congratulate him on the Hoser gold medal win yesterday.
I thought the US played good enough to win but didn't. I am extremely proud of the American team. They played hard and represented
our country beautifully.
