Sabres vs Slayers

Our first game of the night saw the Sabres roll into town to game the mighty Slayers. These teams are pretty evenly matched so it would shape up to be a close game. The first period saw Highmore and Burgoyne being pretty stingy as they took turns shutting the door and as a result, the Sabres managed to record one goal when team captain Kyle Bradbury took a pass from Myles Raymond to take a one goal lead. The Slayers answered back though when Shane Erb tucked an Alex Gale rebound past Burgoyne and this one was all even 1-1 after the first.

The second saw things open up a bit more and the Sabres took an early lead when rookie Derek Jones scored from Kyle Bradbury. The Slayers answered right back again when Alex Gale and Shane Erb struck once again, with Gale scoring this time to even it up. The Sabres kept coming though and were rewarded twice...this time Bradbury from Jones followed by Gelinas from Strum. But the Slayers weren’t going away and they came back with two of their own when Aaron J Brown grabbed a goal from Chris Sampson followed by Andrew O’Keefe from Ryan Milligan. Gerard “Woody” Gouthro grabbed his only Talley of the night on a pass from Bradbury but again the Slayers answered when Chris Sampson roofed an Alex Gale pass and after the second we had a 5-5 tie.

The third saw Alex Gale open the scoring on a pass from his bro Eric Gale to take their first lead of the game. They held that until late in the third when Kyle Bradbury tied it up on a pass from Myles Raymond. The Sabres kept coming and were rewarded with a late period tally once again from team captain Bradbury, this time from Chris Innes and even though the Slayers pulled their goalie, they just couldn’t solve Burgoyne late in the game and so this one went in the books as a Sabres win! They defeat the Slayers 7-6

Bradbury led his team with a 4 goal 2 assist night. Nice job their Kyle!

Chill vs Hackers

Our second game of the night saw the Chill facing off against the Hackers. The Hackers were coming off a one goal loss to the Sabres while the Chill were coming off a strong week one performance. 

Well...this one was a strange game to say the least. The first period saw the Hackers dominate as they fired a total of 19 shots at Bob Strum, but they couldn’t beat the guy. The Chill on the other hand had only two shots in the period, which in all my years hanging around these risks, has to be the lowest shot tally for a period ever!

The second saw things reverse as this time the Chill took control firing 19 shots at Adam Larder. They managed to score one when Rickie Miller made a strong power move cutting to the net and taking a quick shot, then grabbing his own rebound he ripped it high top shelf. Pretty to watch. At the other end, Strum saw his work load quite a bit lighter as he only faced 6 shots. Unfortunately for him, one of those was a defensive giveaway that let Dave Cooper streak in and bury one low blocker side. This one was all square at 1 after the second.

The third saw both goalies face pretty much the same shot totals but man these guys were stingy! It was late in the game when the Hackers got caught with too many men. On the ensuing power play, Anil Snook had a shot deflect off him and right to team mate and captain Trevor Mcguigan, who tucked it into the open net. This was the only goal of the period and this saw the Hackers drop their second in a row by one goal. The Chill stood on the shoulders of Bob Strum and his play gave them the 2-1 win. That’s also the reason that Bob Strum is this weeks HFHL Player of the Week. Way to go Bobby!

Fire vs Lynx

So we go from one extreme to the other, the Hackers and Chill game was a defensive affair...this one? Yea... not so much.

The Lynx came out strong with a goal by Joe Murphy on a feed from Jordan Castilloux. This was followed up by a blast from Sheamus MacDonald all on his lonesome. Wes Cook blew a shot over the shoulder of Kane off a pass from Sean Fitzgerald, but Sam “The Man” Haliburton scored a very Bobby Orrish style goal cutting across the net, getting tripped up and while in the air flipping the ball past a sprawling Jason Boudreau...it was definitely a highlight reel goal. The Fire came back hard though as Tony Casella scored back to back from Matt Monk and Geoff Briggs to end the period. 3-3 after one.

The second saw Joe Murphy grab his second on a pass from James Griffin Allwood...but the Geoff Briggs and Tony Cassella went on a proverbial tear as Briggs recorded a natural hat trick all on feeds from Casella giving the Fire a 6-4 lead. Sheamus MacDonald took his second shot of the night with the same result as Sam Haliburton slid a pass his way for the assist. But the Fire grabbed that two goal lead back when Cook scored his second off a Lynx give away. Fire up 7-5 after the second.

The third saw the Fire jump into a three goal lead after Casella cut to the net uncontested and swiped a Geoff Briggs rebound past an unsuspecting Kane. But with the teams as tough as they are this season, an offensive outburst is always a possibility. Unfortunately for the Fire, that’s exactly what happened. Despite a save of the year candidate effort from Boudreau on a breakaway by Joe Murphy, the Lynx scored 6 unanswered goals. Sheamus MacDonald went 3 for 3 scoring his third for the hatty on a pass from Alex Murphy. Joe and brother Alex connected after that, followed by Mr. 100% Sheamus MacDonald who went 4 for 4 on a pass from Jordan Castilloux. James Griffin Allwood scored back to back on feeds from a joe Murphy and rookie new guy Brad Sabian, while Alex Murphy, who played a solid all around game, closed things out on a pass from Griffin Allwood. When this party was over, the Lynx our gunned the Fire 11-8 and proved that they can carry weak goaltending when needed...and baby, it was needed.

So there you have it folks. Hackers lose their first two games for the first time ever. Lynx are averaging 11 goals for after two games. Sabres are looking pretty strong. Chill are off to a 2 and 0 start, Fire and Slayers might need to get on the phones this week. Lots of stories starting to unfold. 

This is Billy Concarney saying so long and remember, just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean it’s right!

Be well folks!