Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Gladiators (2/19/11)

It was a pretty full house that watched the second game in the Everblades series with the Gladiators. For much of the game it looked like the Glads were going to walk away victorious, but the Blades never gave up.

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The boys did look a bit sluggish during the first period. That sluggish play allowed Gwinnett to score first around the 13 minute mark. About a minute and a half later Drew Larman made it a 1-1 game. Unfortunately the Glads tallied another about three minutes later after a mad scramble around goalie Jaroslav Janus to take the lead yet again. With neiiter team scoring in the remaining time the score at the end of the period remained 2-1.

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When the Blades scored three minutes into the second there was a feeling that maybe the momentum was shifting. It certainly seemed like the Blades were going to start taking over. The goal, a nearly carbon-copy repeat of his Stamkos-esque goal Friday night, evened it up 2-2.

You could see that Gwinnett was starting to fall back into their usual thuggish style of play when one of their players basically took a run at Janus. Bobby Raymond mixed up with the scumbag Glads player while Janus struggled on the ice in obvious pain. It looked as though emergency back-up Brian Markowicz would finally get his chance, but Janus was able to stay in the game. Amazingly, there was no call made on the obvious intent to injure Janus. Instead mutual roughing calls were made.

It remained tied up for most of the second until Gwinnett was able to take the lead for the third time while on the four on four. Luckily, the Gladiators just couldn't help themselves and took two idiotic penalties in a row to give the Blades a 5 on 3 power play. The Blades took advantage of their misstep and evened it up 3-3 thanks to a goal from Mathieu Roy at the 19:20 mark. The period ended with that score, and you could tell that the momentum had really shifted towards the Blades.

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 The third period was a pretty exciting one. Francis Lemieux  opened the scoring about four minutes into the period and gave the Blades their first lead of the night.

Not to be outdone by his linemate, Alex Imbeault scored his first of the night around two minutes later while on the power play to make it 5-3. Two and a half minutes after that, Tony Mosey scored his third of the year to make it 6-3. A few minutes later, Raymond mixed it up yet again with one of the Glads, earning a fighting major for his efforts.

Things were pretty back and forth until Imbeault decided to twist the proverbial knife with another goal to make it 7-3. Things got a little rough after that and Evgeny Timkin mixed it up with one of the Glads. The period ended with the Blades earning a hard-fought 7-3 victory. Of course the final buzzer sounding was not without its drama. One of the Glads did something to David Fischer (the fact that it happened in front of me and I really wasn't paying attention is embarrassing). Timkin decided to take on the Gladiator he had mixed it up with earlier as a result. The Blades trailed the final SOG 43-51. The score-sheet is here.

The three stars: Janus, Lemieux, Imbeault

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Some thoughts:
- As I said last re-cap, if you don't believe Bobby Raymond is one of the best players on the team you suck.
- I don't know if it's the regular starts, finding his groove, or rising to theoccasion with Goepfert out, but Jaro Janus has been impressive lately.

- I said this last night on Twitter but it bears repeating, with a goal and an almost goal from Beca in the same spot, why didn't the Glads cover him better?
- That being said the Blades should make it a rule to pass to Beca whenever he's open and ready for the one-timer.

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After the game, the Blades auctioned off the specialty jerseys. If I'm correct we raised over $16,000 for local cancer charitites! Here's what everyone earned:
- Bobby Goepfert: $500
- Ross Carlson: $700
- Trevor Hendrikx: $500
- Mike Egener: $550
- Tim Spencer: $450
- Cedric McNicoll: $400
- Alex Hutching: $400
- Swampee: $700
- Elgin Reid: $600
- Ian McDonald: $450
- Jared Staal: $1050
- Matt Beca: $700
- Tony Mosey: $500
- Mathieu Roy: $700
- Ernie Hartlieb: $1800
- Alex Imbeault: $600
- Mitch Fadden: $600
- David Fischer: $500
- Engeny Timkin: $450
- Bobby Raymond: $700
- J.F. David: $650
- Francis Lemieux: $1200
- Drew Larman: $850
- Jaroslav Janus: $900