LANDON HOCKEY 4 ARCHBISHOP SPALDING 2

MAPHL’s #1 offensive team (Bears 110 points) met the #1 GA team the Cavaliers (1.29 GA) at the Bears’ Den. If you are into sabermetrics, that meant that AS Coach Rob Trantin should count on his ace goalie and  needed to produce +0.37 goals to account for the home team’s O advantage. It was clear that the Cavaliers were going to send a forward down ice at the moment a teammate controlled the puck in the AS D zone. Coaches Sears, Farnstrom & Weiss (sounds like a law firm?) were ready.

The Spalding strategy worked on their first entry into their O zone. The Bears actually won the faceoff and took the puck into the AS D zone. A home team turnover resulted in a breakout pass. A black-sweatered forward picked up the puck and has a breakaway goal at 14:15.

The Cavaliers were called for a penalty at 12:35. A new Landon powerplay formation made the most of the opportunity. Drew Wellingtonto Ryan Giles to LITTLE “the Buenos Aires Bomber” Kenary for the 1^st Bear goal @ 11:46.

The opening period was very close. The AS skaters were physical, and the home players responded in equal measure. The SOGs were also close—Bears put 8 on the Spaulding goalie and Ty Morton had 8 saves.

END OF 1^ST PERIOD BEARS 1 CAVALIERS 1

The next 15 minutes was all Bears. The visitors’ offensive orientation was not clicking. The long pass tactic, which garnered the 1^st goal, resulted in quick Landon possession or icing calls against Spalding. in the 2^nd period, the home team outshot the visitors 16 to 10 (all saved by Ty).

Spaulding was able defend its first PK, but the next Bear PP opportunity was another beautiful passing play—Ryan Giles moved the puck to Drew Wellington, whose slapshot headed towards the AS goalie, and as it passed Joey Graham, his excellent stick work redirected the 6 ounces of vulcanized rubber to the back of the net @6:41.

To blunt the Bear momentum, AS called timeout. Bad news for the visitors, @5:18 Spencer Davis scrapped at the net and linemate/captain Owen Concannon scored.

Ty had 10 saves for the middle section, while his teammates put 16 SOGs on the AS goalie.

END OF 2^ND PERIOD BEARS 3 CAVALIERS 1

Déjà vu all over again (credit to Yogi Berra) occurred at 14:05. The same long pass to the same AS player resulted in a breakaway goal, narrowing the Bear advantage to +1. The Bears maintained control for much of the last 15 minutes. The déjà vu moment seemed to reappear later in the period. The same Cavalier broke into the Landon D zone and unleashed a shot. In what must be the best MAPHL save of the season, Ty’s glove hand was better than the shot—SAVE!!!

AS pulled its goalie and after a real battle with 6 on 5 and with more Ty saves, the Buenos Aires Bomber got possession, moved it to Nicholas Khramtsov who head manned the puck to Drew who deposited it into an empty net @0:09.1

The final stanza saw Ky make 8 saves while the Bears put 10 SOGs on the AS goalie.

END OF GAME BEARS 4 CAVALIERS 2

BEAT StA FRIDAY (1/26) @ BEARS DEN at 6:15pm.