Landon Hockey 4 O’Connell 3

A young (2 seniors, 8 juniors, 8 sophomores, 4 freshmen), excited Knights team skated on their home ice, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, intent on beating the WaPo #2 Bears. Bishop Denis J. O’Connell (BDJO) has been and likely soon will be again a NoVa powerhouse and they are better than Landon’s last opponent, Calvert Hall. Be that as it may, the Bears started off the game as though they were playing the Cardinals, not the Knights.

The Bear’s torpor, common among ursine beasts in February, was evident in the first 15 minutes. The frisky Knights scored after the visitors gave up a turnover in their D end and that resulted in a BDJO semi breakaway and a goal at 7:13.

The well-coached home team tried to avoid the Bears’ vaunted ability to control the puck in their O zone by icing the puck as a regular tactic. Fortunately, the Knights had a goal disallowed when one of their forwards was called for cross-checking at 1:12. From a potential +2 margin, the BDJO team saw the game tied on the Landon PP. JH Lages (L2021)initiated the play from the point; Captain Owen Concannon moved the puck to Will Jarrett who scored @0:35.4 (Identifying who scored is always hard, but when the Badger puts the puck in the goal, the sound of his friend and her friend screaming is a more clarion call than the horn at the Capital One center)

Ty Morton had 4 saves in period #1 and his teammates hit the O’C goal or goalie 5 times.

END OF THE 1^ST PERIOD BEARS 1 KNIGHTS 1

The somnambulant state of the initial 15:00 disappeared in the middle period. The Bears once again dominated the area around the opponents’ goal- smartly moving the puck and winning the 1 v. 1 contests on a regular basis.

@13:10 Nicholas Khramtsov got it started and Joey Graham made a good pass from the corner to Owen who buried goal #2. Minutes late, @9:58, the combination was Chase Blazer to the Badger (screams) to Spencer Davis for tally #3 @9:58

During this 15 minute segment, Ty stopped 5 Knight shots while his buddies accumulated 11 SOGs (note: these numbers differ radically from the official scorer but are concurred by the Bear coaches as more accurate).

END OF 2^ND PERIOD BEARS 3 KNIGHTS 1

The home team scored a PP goal at 14:41, but the all 2021 pair scored @9:09 initiated by frosh D JH with a slapper from the point. Then his classmate Matthew Brille (he keeps changing his number; to confuse scouts?) who altered the puck’s trajectory for goal (winning) @ 9:09.

The Knights converted their 2^nd PP goal of the third trimester at 1:45. Their coach called a timeout to set up the 6 on 5 plays when they moved the puck into their O zone (pulling their goalie). It looked like the Knights were ‘holy” in their strategy (“Oh, holy Knights”?) when a point blank shot was struck towards the Bear goal. NOPE, “Cool Hand” Ty made a spectacular glove save at 0:57.3.

Face-offs at 0:21.9, 0:13.2 and 0:06 were won by Bear centermen. Several EN shots did not hit the net, but the last few seconds did not see any more BDJO SOGs. Good Bear D from all L skaters on the ice.

Ty stopped 5 O’C shots (game saves 14) and Landon put 13 SOGs (28 for game)

FINAL SCORE BEARS 4 KNIGHTS 3

Last MAPHL game- Thursday 2/8 at Laurel