Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Walleye (11/19/10)

Normally, I would start a post with something about the Everblades needing to work hard for the win or some cliche like that. I'm too pumped to even go there.

It was a complete curbstomping. There were so many fights I lost count (check out the game sheet, it takes a lot of scrolling to get through all the penalties).

Frankly, it was nuts.

The way the first period started out, it looked like it wasn't going to be anything like the last game. The Walleye really came out strong and put on a lot of pressure. It was apparent that the rough stuff from the end of last game was going to continue. Mike McKenzie ended the stalemate, and his scoring drought, by notching his first goal of the season. A few minutes after that, one of the Walleye decided to pick a fight with captain Mike Egener. It took the linesman a long time to break them up. When they finally did, the Blades captain was sent off the ice with about two minutes left in the period. The teams left the ice with the Blades up 1-0, the SOG were 18-6 in Toledo's favor.



I have no idea what coach Poss said to the players during the first intermission, but I know he needs to say it more often. The Blades ripped into the Walleye and notched 4 goals, three of which were scored in a three minute time-span. Matt Pistilli opened it up with a power play tally, Ross Carlson scored his first of the year a minute later, and Alex Hutchings dealt the back-breaker about a minute after that. Later, Francis Lemieux added a short-handed goal and it was obvious the Walleye needed a miracle. The period ended with the Blades up 5-0 on the Walleye, the SOG for the period  was 13-8 in the Everblades favor.

It was pretty obvious at that point that there was no way the Walleye were going to be able to come back.Alex Imbeault drove that point home by scoring a power play goal  about three minutes into the third.period. The Blades were on the power play because the player who had fought Mike Egener in the first went after him again. They both received game misconducts for continuing a fight, and had to leave. A few minutes after that, a Walleye player went after David Fischer (I was a little confused as to why you'd go after him of all the guys on the ice, but whatever). A few minutes after that, yet another fight was started by a Walleye player, this time it was with Drew Larman. The game calmed down (at least for the moment) and Mathieu Roy was able to get his sixth goal of the season a few minutes later. Three minutes later, the Walleye ruined goalie Jaroslav Janus' shut-out and scored their first goal of the night. From that point on, everything went even more South than it already was.

There were some scuffles, a player was ejected, and next thing you know water bottles were thrown to the ice from the Walleye bench. Needless to say, the ref was not happy about that and the offender, the Walleye's coach, was ejected from the game.

That put the Everblades on a power play. The Blades took advantage and Ross Carlson scored 41 seconds later to make it 8-1. There wasn't much action in the last few minutes, and the Walleye had no way of coming back.
Obviously, it was a great game. A lot of players made the scoresheet. A quick summary:

• Mike McKenzie- 1G, 3A
• Francis Lemieux- 1G, 2A
• Alex Hutchings- 1G, 1A
• Ross Carlson- 2G
• Matt Pistilli- 1G
• Mathieu Roy- 1G
• Mitch Fadden- 3A
• Bobby Raymond- 2A
• Phil Paquet- 1A

One of the best performers of the night  was goalie Jaroslav Janus who made 40 saves on 41 shots.

That bears repeating. 40 saves on 41 shots.

Unbelievably, the local media decided that wasn't enough to earn him one of the three stars of the night. Of course later, they seemed to realize how dumb they were, and they've made him the second star.

The Everblades have one more game Saturday night, to close out the series with the Walleye. I think the chances of it being a wild one are pretty good. Too bad Trevor Hendrikx is still injured...