(vol.
4W, no. 9; newsletter by h.s.)
In
our bid for a third-straight finals berth last night, we wanted to come
out and get on the board first; Russ gave us that boost by scoring at 14:33
of the 1st period which became the quickest score in Pirate history. We
held that 1-0 lead deep into the 1st period when the Phantoms capitalized
on a loose rebound to even things up at 1-1. With little time remaining
in the period, though, Roger took a feed from Allen and blasted a low shot
through traffic from the blueline to give us the 2-1 lead which we carried
into the break.
We built that up to a two-goal lead when Scott worked the offensive boards
and squeezed one through. The Phantoms pressed after that and intercepted
a clearing pass for a score, which made it 3-2. But Allen retrieved Scott's
shot off the boards and banked one off the Phantoms' goalie to give us back
our 2-goal lead. Awesome chances by Rob and BB nearly gave us a 3-goal margin,
but we took the 4-2 lead into the break.
The 3rd period was probably one of our best periods of the season —
everyone hustled and the Phantoms never got a chance to get their game going.
Big Jim, Roger and Dave (with help from Russ), kept their offense from setting-up
in our zone and our points (kudos to BB, Rob and WIldman) blocked and covered
shots from their Big Guns. With five minutes left, John Arena drew a holding
penalty from Dave Matthews and the Phantoms had a critical powerplay opportunity.
We killed it off beautifully (Glen Chambers was awesome standing up at the
center ice) and kept the pressure turned-up so high the Phantoms never had
the chance to pull their goalie. Chris — who was an ironman all night
(can you believe this guy was sick?) — had a late breakaway chance,
but his shot was just wide (although I can still hear our bench chanting
"Chris, Chris!"); Scott and BB also raced down the ice in the
closing moments, but somehow their one-timer was stopped. All-in-all it
was one of our best nights of hockey and we're headed back to The Finals.
THE
SILVER
SKULLS
1) ALLEN
SNYDER
For a 2-point night when we really needed it.
2) SCOTT MILLER
After his week off, our regular-season scoring leader tallied the GWG.
3)
GLEN CHAMBERS
For being everywhere last night and making plays standing up and from his
knees! (And a happy 1-year birthday to Glen's daughter!)
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