14 years of waiting and it feels good guys. It feels real good.
More in the, uh... whenever I manage to drag myself out of bed.
Let's Go Blades!
Update: Everything is up. You can find videos on the blogs YouTube channel of the post game celebrations, John Muse winning the MVP award and the players lifting the Kelly Cup.
The photos from the game are up on Flickr
If you missed Tuesday's set, you can click here to see those.
I'm now going to try to write up a post to summarize everything. No idea how that's going to work.
What is there to say about last night's Everblades game? The guys were awesome most of the time and any time they weren't John Muse was giving us reason to scream "MOOOOOOOSEEEEEE" as loud as we could.
A very rare specimen of Northeastern Arena Moose (massholias bamfus)
The guys have a chance to end our 14 years of waiting tonight. There probably won't be a single seat available by the time the game starts. All the local news stations are making the Blades a top story rather than a five second blurb once a week.
Basically, down is up and right is left, and it feels so good.
The pictures from last night (including awesome shots of the player intros)
My video of Ryan Donald getting jumped after a completely clean hit:
I don't think I can put this into words that can explain just how amazing this really is. It's been 7 years of almosts and heartbreaks. 7 years of never being quite good enough. Of never finding that special something.
There were times when maybe we wondered if the Blades would miss the playoffs totally. The players didn't give up though. Look at them now.
They did it. After a hundred or so games, the Everblades are returning to the Kelly Cup Final and it feels good. We have a week to celebrate. A week to be proud of everything the players have accomplished this season.
Then we all get back to business.
The Wranglers are waiting in Sin City and we can't disappoint.
The Florida Everblades secured a 2-1 series lead with a 5-4 OT win Monday night over the Elmira Jackals. As usual I’m going to break the game down into the five moments I think summarize it best. You may disagree (but you’re not writing this so.... :-P).
1) Slip n’ Slide
One of the best moments of the series so far. Bruess got called for slashing, but it was well worth it to watch the Elmira player slide across the ice and straight into the net. There was even enough warning for Nagle to escape danger and scamper to safety in order to enjoy the show.
2) Salters, Salters, Salters
I’m channeling my inner Jan Brady, but seriously when will people learn that picking a fight with Leigh Salters is not smart? Two punches and Jarrett Rush was on the ground. Kudos to Salters for not continuing to bludgeon the man while he was down. We like to call that respect.
3) @KevinQuick4 Quick had great positioning for the Everblades second goal. He just happened to be sitting while doing it... Quick took the rebound right in front and got it home. The ‘Blades proceeded to bang home two more to tie the game (they eventually won in OT, but we’ll get there). You should definitely follow him. Why? Because I told you to, silly.
4) The Flying Piche Piche gets my imaginary hard hat or fedora (if we’re pretending to be the NY Rangers). Regardless, he worked his butt off and it showed. Piche had six shots on goal, two assists and was a +1 for the night. He and Bruess both get huge points for the momentum shift in the second period.
5) Fifty Five As time ticked off in OT I looked to the scoreboard and saw that the Everblades had attempted 51 shots. It was at this point that I turned to dear Swamphockey and stated, “I think it’ll be shot 55”. Well, guess what? David Fischer did the honors and won the game.... on (you guessed it) shot 55. Now I know what you’re thinking (I totally need to go pick some lotto numbers) or more likely it was about time. Either way it was fitting for Fischer to seal the victory on his first night back with the team after missing the last three games. Fans showed support for Fischer and his family by donning pink ribbons at Monday’s game.
Well those were my favorite moments. Feel free to share your favorite moments and be on the look out for something special coming your way!
Here we go with yet another post from the always magnificent Chelsea Clyde. I'm just going to leave to her website here in case you can't get enough.
Keeping with the theme of my t-shirt of the Wednesday night, this post shall be filled with poor pirate/sailing puns.
So to begin....
The Everblades prepared to set sail for Greenville, SC with a 4-2 victory Wednesday night.
1. Jason Missiaen walks the plank.
The National Hockey League and I have something in common: we like big goalies. The Everblades liked Greenvilles 6’8” goalie Jason Missiaen so much they scored four times. While the Everblades offense demonstrated some smooth sailing it’s clear Greenville has little choice but to stay the course in goal.
2. Trevor Bruess released the Kraken.
The Everblades have a nightly “Collision of the Game” as voted on by fans. For Wednesday’s game we all got to pick between “option one: Trevor BRUESS” or “option two: Trevor BRUESS”. If you can’t figure it out Trevor Bruess won. Bruess is commonly known for his exuberance and can be spotted racing off the ice at the end of warm ups... and hitting anything that moves. Yeah, that too.
3. Muse sinks their ship.
The Everblades continued to put their faith in John Muse. This time Muse stopped 32 of 34 shots. The third star of the game, faced some rough waters with the marauding Road Warriors in his crease. His crew mates were there to back him up and some pretty glove saves later we had the W.
4. Rutherford is a scurvy dog (in the best way possible).
I once heard a fan refer to David Rutherford as a “man Chihuahua” or “manhuahua” while some people may take offense at the term I think it was a compliment. No one seems to get under opposing teams skin quite like Mr. Rutherford. #tinybutfierce
5. Leigh Salters and his weapons of “mast” destruction.
As tensions continued to rise the off-ice production crew decided to give the Road Warriors a not so subtle reminder. The reminder was a video of Leigh Salters trouncing a Gwinnett Gladiator. His weapons of “mast” destructions: yeah those would be his hands. Salters is not only good in a fight but provided the game winning goal during the second period.
Now for the fun part. My baseless predictions/ wish list for the rest of the series.
A duel to the death between John Muse and Nic Riopel. My money is on Muse.
Brayden Irwin gets a hat trick. This would annoy @Swamphockey till the end of time. (ed. note: I am happy any time a player scores, even when I'm generally underwhelmed by that players effort)
Marc-Olivier Vallerand and Sebastien Piche sing “Oh Canada” in harmony and in french. “Oh Canada” is totally under utilized in the US. Plus, I see an episode of karaoke superstars in their future.
What would you like to see happen? Tell me on Twitter @CVClyde or leave a comment!
And as always the link to the stat sheet for those wanting “real” information.
As promised, here's the guest post from one of the most fantastic hockey ladies I've ever met, Chelsea Clyde. You can check out here website here and find her on Twitter here.
The curse is broken. I try not to be a superstitious person. I mean truly how much can wearing silly bands really impact a teams performance? However, I was starting to get a complex with the Everblades. They just never won when I was in the rink (my Jr. Blades never had such a problem, but that’s another story).
It got so bad that our dear SwampHockey debated whether inviting me to a game was a good decision. Lot’s of snark, not very many wins.
I’m happy to say after Monday’s 5-2 victory, the curse is officially broken and here’s how it happened.
1) The toe-tapping Muse.
There are times that no matter the statistics I just “feel” comfortable with certain goalies. This year that was John Muse. “The Moose” has an interesting habit of tapping the toes of his skates on the ice before the start of the game. He didn’t stop however and went toe-to-toe with Greenville in the remaining seconds. The Everblades were running the clock with the puck behind the net. It was pretty comical to watch him “dance” as the Road Warriors forward tried to get around and force the Everblades to play the puck.
The feisty defenseman made the game. He contributed one assist in the contest, but his shining moment is when he told Marc- Olivier Vallerand to “suck it” (not a direct quote). The two players appeared to be exchanging words throughout the contest. By the third period all it took was a little shove by Piche and Vallerand was ready to drop the gloves. From my seat it went like this: (shove) V: French curse word, P: You want to go?
3) Matt Beca’s Ovi inspired goal celebration.
I’m always a fan of enthusiastic goal celebrations. This one took place right in front of my seat. Bec’s beat Nic Riopel and looked like Ralphie from A Christmas Story when he his parents surprise him with the Red Ryder BB gun. The chest bump to the glass and smothering of affection from his teammates didn’t hurt either.
4) Scott Pitt and the “score board incident”
I expect things to be feisty with Greenville. After all they are captained by T.J. Reynolds (hate all you want, but his particular form pestering is an art form). However, you have to know when to pick your fights and with whom. I’ve seen Scott Pitt play sporadically since 2007. I’ve seen him score plenty of goals, but I’ve never seen him get in a fight (not saying it’s never happened, just that I’ve never seen it). So it came as no surprise that he didn’t take up the useless call from Greenville throughout the game. The entertaining part was his hand gesture at the end of the game. For those watching it was easy to see Pitt gesturing towards the score board as a Road Warrior tried to engage him. Smart move Mr. Pitt. We approve.
5) David Fischer’s chew toy.
Now we’ve already talked about superstitions and habits, but then there is Fischer’s mouth guard or more aptly named chew toy. I’m not sure how many of Fischer’s teeth it’s protecting, but if chewing on that lime green guard helps you score AND prevent goals, well keep on chewing. Fischer was a +1 on the night and scored the Everblades first goal.
For people who like actual facts I’ve included the link to the game sheet, but let’s face it a game is much more than just a piece of paper.
After pulling themselves up from the basement and climbing all the way to fifth in the East, the Blades were just one win away from knowing who they would play in the playoffs.
It's hard to say which team was the better team. Both squads played at their best. When all was said and done, the Blades walked away with the win.
After not being able to get a puck past Glads goalie Marc Chevrie on Wednesday the Blades came out on a mission. Cedric McNicoll opened up scoring at the 5:21 mark (assists to Marquardt and Salters). Brayden Irwin followed that up with a power play tally in the later half of the period tomake it 2-0 (assists to Marquardt and Murray). The period ended with that score and a 12-4 lead in SOG.
The second saw the Glads score two power play goals about two minutes apart to tie things up abot halfway though the period. Luckily, Matt Marquardt gave the Blades the lead yet again with a power play goal (assists to Raymond and Galiardi). The Blades left the ice with their 3-2 lead in place.
The Blades extended their lead about 11 minutes into the third with a weird bounce off of Chevrie to make it 4-2. About a minute after that (and the usual rough stuff the Glads like to dish out when their losing) the Glads made it 4-3 with a short handed goal. The Blades were able to make it 5-3 with an empty netter from Matt Beca (assist to McNicoll and Piché). The game ended and the Blades had wrestled a hard won victory from the Gladiators.
Three Stars:
3. Hadad
2. Marquardt
1. Irwin
Some thoughts:
- It wasn't fun to see the old rough and tumble Gladiators decide to make a reappearance. I did not miss them at all.
- Pretty classy for your captain to get a game misconduct for physical abuse of the officials. The league better hand something down for that. It was very uncool.
- The Blades did okay in the discipline department but could have done better. It was obvious Hadad was doing what he does best: being the biggest pest on Earth.
- Fun fact: since the 12th, the Blades haven't given up more than 3 goals in any game.
- Time to get ready for Greenville people.
Unfortunately, I couldn't track down a radio broadcast of the game. Sounds like it was a doozy officiating-wise.
It doesn't matter though. The Blades swept the team they could only afford to give one point to. I imagine they all curled into balls and qietly cried on the bus ride home to Charleston last night.
The Rays opened the scoring in the first the Blades didn't have any answer right away.
The Blades responded in the second by having the kind of second period they've been having all season. Four goals? Piece of cake for the Blades.
Matt Beca started things off with an unassisted goal at 3:55. Cedric McNicoll gave the Blades a lead on the power play at 4:40 (assisted by Piché and Bress). He added another because let's be honest, McNicoll isn't capable of only scoring one goal, he has to score two (assisted by Pitt and Fischer). Finally, Sebastien Piché extended his goal scoring streak to three games with a power play tally late in the period (assisted by McNicoll and Fischer).
The Stingrays netted another in the third, but I'm pretty sure that was just because John Muse felt bad for them. Who wouldn't? Your leading scorer is arrested for stealing a cab and you just dropped two spots in the standings? It's all kind of sad.
Anyway, Blades win it 4-2.
Three stars:
3. Fischer
2. Piché
1. McNicoll
No thoughts for you guys. Let's all just bask in the warm glow of the Blades incredible turn around.
After struggling for a better part of the season, the Everblades find themselves in an enviable position. They found their groove at the best possible time. Just a month ago there was the threat of missing the playoffs. Not something the perpetually playoff bound Blades organization is used to. Now, the Blades find themselves in the middle of the playoff pack. Quite the turnaround.
After a close game Wednesday it seemed Friday's game was going to be a close one. It was, at least for the scoreless first period.
Then, the second period happened. Trevor Bruess opened up the scoring on the power play to make it 1-0 (assists to Fischer and Beca). About three minutes later, Brayden Irwin notched another power play tally to make it 2-0 (assists to Qick and Roy). Shortly after that, Scott Pitt notched the Blades only even strength goal of the night on a rush from the faceoff (assists to MacLean and Murray) to make it 3-0. South Carolina was able to get one past Blades goalie John Muse to ruin his sht-out. Luckily, the Stingrays hadn't learned the lesson of staying out of the box and gave the Blades another power play. Obviously, the Blades converted. It was just one of those nights. Cedric McNicoll made it 4-1 with a pretty shot right over Stingrays goalie Billy Sauer's shoulder (assists to Beca and Fischer). Two minutes later the Stingrays continued to shoot themselves in the foot and Sebastien Piché scored his second goal in as many games to make it 5-1 (assists to Beca and Fischer). That score remained at the end of the period. The Blades had gone a perfect 4 for 4 on the power play.
Aside from a second goal from South Carolina (which really should have been disallowed in my opinion), the third was as quiet as the third. Brayden Irwin dropped the gloves with a Stingray, but it wasn't really what I'd call a fight. The period ended with the Blades up 5-2.
Three stars:
3. Irwin
2. Fischer
1. Beca
Barring a miracle, no pictures until Monday.
Some thoughts:
- The game sheets in the last month or two are really proof that scoring is coming from the entire team and that's a nice thing to see.
- If I remember attendance statistics correctly, the Blades hit 150,000 fans for this season last night. 5,857 is not too far off of full capacity. Good seats for playoffs are going to be hard to come by.
- Thanks to Wheeling losing, the Blades are suddenly fifth in the conference. Crazy.
- The Stingrays have been trying to get to Muse. They've been clipping and running him every chance they get. His reaction is to make anyone who comes near his crease pay. Awesome.
- I vote David Fischer and Matt Beca be on every power play so they can set up all the plays. We'll have a perfect power play record!
It was no secret that the Everblades have a tough series on their hands. The Stingrays sit just above them in the standings. They had to show up and play their best. Aside from an unfortunate bounce and the usual horribly unbalanced ECHL officiating, the game went pretty well.
The Blades started the game strong. Two goals in the first four minutes of the period. The first, from Scott Pitt (assisted by Donald and Irwin), and the second, from Matt Marquardt (assisted by McNicoll and Galiardi), gave the Blades a quick lead.
Unfortunately, a few minutes later the Stingrays made a rush down the ice. A pass made right in front of the net bounced off Brayden Irwin's skate and right into the goal to make it 2-1. About four minutes later, Blades goalie John Muse made a pad save that served up a juicy rebound and a Stingrays forward had no trouble scoring the goal. There was no further scoring in the period. When the buzzer sounded, the teams left the ice to a 2-2 score.
The Blades opened up the second by scoring an early goal yet again. That goal, Sebastien Piche first goal of the season (assisted by Landry and Beca), gave the Blades a 3-2 lead. The Stingrays answered back four minutes later and made it a tie game yet again. That score remained when the period ended.
Throughout most of the third, both teams traded chances with neither coming out on top. Then almost 13 minutes into the period, Rylan Galiardi gave the blades their third lead of the game (assisted by Donald). Things were a bit tense toward the end of the third when back to back penalties on th eBlades led to a pretty extended period of 5 on 3. Thanks to some of the best hustle I've seen, the Blades were able to kill both penalties. The fans gave them a huge round of applause and a standing ovation. Shortly after that, the final buzzer sounded and the Blades had won 4-2. They now are tied with the Stingrays for 6th and one point behind the Nailers for 5th.
Some thoughts:
- I don't think I can rave enough about that last penalty kill. It was a thing of beauty.
- Allow me to play armchair coach for a minute: Why not, when you have an extended 5 on 3 and you're down by only one goal would you not pull your goalie for an extra attacker. Is your power play so terrible they could defend when they have six players to the opposing teams 3?
- It's not like the Stingray players couldn't handle protecting an open net. Mathieu Roy was absolutely robbed of an empty net goal thanks to one of the Rays' hustle.
- Seriously guys, that penalty kill. Sigh.
A quick note, it looks like the usual end of the season attendance spike has finally happened (if you're just showing up to games now you suck by the way). If, like me, you haven't been smart enough to secure season tickets, you might want to pay ticket master a little extra to secure the seats you like. I show up before gates open and the good seats are becoming harder to come by.
After watching the Everblades struggle all season, it feels like things may just be changing. After scoring eight goals in Trenton on Sunday the Blades rode in to Reading to face a team just a few points back in the standings. Add in a goalie, Toronto prospect Mark Owuya, with a 10-3-3 record, and the situation looked a bit scary.
Luckily, the Blades were up to the task.
The first period was a bit of a wash. Perpetual bane of my existence, Yannick Tifu, scored two goals in the space of about a minute and a half. Matt Beca narrowed the Royals lead to 1 goal around the 12 minute mark (assists to McNicoll and Roy). When the period ended, the score remained 2-1.
I'm going to assume that either Beca's goal lit a fire or Coach Poss used his angry voice between periods. Either way, the Blades decided to explode in the second. In the span of about three minutes, they scored three goals. Matt Marquardt opened up the scoring frenzy with an unassisted goal. Brayden Irwin notched one on the power play (assists to Roy and Ratchuck). Scott Pitt added one of his own shortly after that (assists to MacLean and Donald) to make it 4-2. The Royals managed to notch one of their own to make it 4-3. Unfortunately for them, Mathieu Roy scored a short handed goal with about three seconds left in the period to make it 5-3.
Crushing opposing player's spirits is just what he does
One had to wonder if the Royals would come out with all cylinders pumping for the third.
Well, they kind of did. Unfortunately for them, the Blades notched two quick goals in a little over 30 seconds to take the 7-3 lead. Bruess tallied the first of the two by going top shelf (assist to Beca). Mike Ratchuck decided that since everyone else was scoring, he wanted to as well and notched the second (assist to Marquardt). At that point, the Royals finally took mercy on Owuya and pulled him. Delightfully, he decided to try and fight the Everblades bench as he left the ice.
Perhaps he should change his name to Boohooya
At this point, the Blades could have sat back and just let the score stay 7-3. Unfortunately for the Royals, there no fun in that. Bobby Raymond made it 8-3 at the 10:41 mark of the period (assists to Marquardt and Roy). The period ended with the Blades handing another eight goal defeat to them in front of their home crowd. It felt good.
Some thoughts:
- The Blades are 5-1 so far this month. Me gusta.
- Good lord, the Blades love scoring a lot of goals on goalies with good records.
- The Blades are only three points behind South Carolina right now. They're four points ahead of Cincinnati.
- Roy's short handed goal was all because of his hard work. He blocks a shot then takes it down on a rush.
- So, Matt Marquardt? Yeah, the dude quietly gets stuff done. His goal, a slap shot from the top of the circle was awesome (he's on Twitter by the way).
- The newest Blade, Brandon MacLean is pure hustle. I like him.
- The Royals spent the entire game targeting David Rutherford. Too bad for them he plays harder and meaner in those situations.
- He also scores major points with me for fighting Tifu
The Blades have a day off today. They then play Elmira Friday and Saturday and return to Reading on Sunday. After that, they'll be home for two weeks.
It's no secret that the Blades have had a rough year. As they enter into the last few weeks of the regular season every single point counts if they're going to make it into the playoffs. The team that showed up last night proved that maybe, just maybe, they finally realized that.
Aside from a loan tally, a power play goal from Mike Ratchuck (assists to McNicoll and Quick), the first period was rather uneventful. The period ended with the Blades up 1-0.
The Blades made it 2-0 around eight minutes into the second with a second power play goal from Ryan Galiardi (assists to McNicoll and Quick). About four minutes later, Trevor Bruess made it 3-0 (assists to Roy and Fischer). The K-Wings ended golden goalie Pat Nagle's shut-out in the closing minutes of the period to make it 3-1.
It didn't matter though. Minutes after a power play that had carried over from the second ended, David Rutherford made it 4-1 (assist to Galiardi). The K-Wings responded with two goals, one of which was shorthanded, over five minutes to make it 4-3.
That's when something happened that I can't really recall happening too much throughout the rest of the season.
The Blades sucked it up and decided to win the game. Honestly, the feeling of "hell no, we are not losing this" was palpable. Rutherford made it 5-3 30 seconds later on the power play (assists to Beca and Piché). About 20 seconds after that, Brayden Irwin made it 6-3 (assists to Fischer and Pitt). Galiardi netted his second of the night about two minutes after that goal (assists to Pitt and Irwin) to make it 7-3.
The K-Wings finally decided to pull ECHL goaltender of the month Riley Gill after that. That tactic worked for a while and the K-Wings put on tons of pressure. Too bad for them Ratchuck decided he wanted a second goal too. He made it 8-3 at 18:18 completely unassisted. Not to be outdone, Galiardi made it 9-3 about 20 seconds later to earn his hat trick (assists to Irwin and Pitt) and make it 9-3.
SOG were pretty even at 39-40 with the Blades getting the very slight edge.
It was a great game. A really great game.
Some thoughts:
- What is about the Blades that makes them show up against goalies the ECHL has given a weekly or monthly award to? Can the league just pass out weekly honors to whomever the Guys are playing against that week?
- 3/6 on the power play. Awesome.
- I could have lived without giving up a shorthanded goal.
- The penalty killing was pretty great, I wish there hadn't been so many 5 on 3 kills though.
- Bobby Raymond: +6. Forgive me while I pat myself on the back for my excellent taste in defensemen.
- On the other hand, I'm just shaking my head at the players who managed to be a -2 in a 9-3 game.
- Great game from Pat Nagle. He looks much more confident and bounced back after the K-Wings goal. I guess he could have done a bit better on the short-handed goal, but I'm not going to complain about a goalie who stopped 36 of 39 shots.
-Sweet Mother Mary those Pink in the Rink jerseys were terrible.
The Blades play the K-Wings again tonight. I'm hoping they can keep up the energy they had last night. The K-Wings are not going to go down without a fight. Also, it's the second night of Pink in the Rink. It sounded like a lot of the tickets have been bought up. It should be a good showing.
I'm not going to lie and say the Blades played a spectacular game. They didn't. It was a decidedly sub par performance to be honest. A lucky bounce or two and finally showing up to play in the closing minutes did pay off in the end though.
The Stingrays opened up the scoring in the first thanks to a horrible turnover on the power play. Scott Pitt evened it up with 15 seconds left in the period.
The only goal of the second was scored while the Blades best penalty killer, Matheiu Roy, sat in the box for an incredibly weak interference call.There was a moment that the ECHL might get involved in. A bit late in the second former Everblade Tyler Shelast and David Fischer had a huge collision near the bluline. Both players were pretty dazed, but a replay began to be shown on the video board, but was quickly cut off. Why? Because it looked pretty evident that Shelast had, at the very least, aimed very high on Fischer. From my vantage point, the replay made it look like he had his arms up on purpose and made contact with Fischer's head.
The third saw the Stingrays take a 3-1 lead with (this pains me to admit) a beautiful tic-tac-toe play. thankfully, the Blades must have realized they were playing an actual hockey game and finally decided to show up. Cedric McNicoll scored two goals in the last five minutes of the game made it 3-3. His second goal, scored on the power play with Pat Nagle pulled to give them a 6 on 4, forced OT.
The Blades kept up the strong play in overtime. They held the Stingrays to zero shots on goal and managed to earn the extra point with a lovely goal from David Fischer to take the extra point.
Some thoughts:
- It was pretty obvious that the players were completely relieved to walk away with that win.
- That being said, they really can't continue to slack of for two and a half periods and hope to accomplish anything.
- It's a sad day when the hits of the game are the same guy. Of course Rutherford was the only one who played a full 60. Actually, he's the only player that plays a full 60 consistently.
- The guys are very lucky the League doesn't track turnovers. No one would be called up if that was an a available stat.
- In case you missed it, here's a lovely story from the Puck daddy Blog on Curtis Marouelli making up rules as usual. Anyone surprised? I'm not.
Let's see how my first re-cap after an extended break from writing them goes.
After losing 7-2 on Wednesday, it was pretty obvious the Express weren't going to lay back and allow the Blades to run roughshod over them.
They came on strong in the first. There were long stretches of intense, sustained, pressure. Thankfully, solid goaltending from John Muse, good support from the guys and maybe a bit of luck held the Express at bay. At the 13:17 mark Kory Falite was able to cash in with a goal (assists to Rutherford and Marquardt). That goal was the lone tally in the first and was one of only 7 shots the Blades were able to get on the Express' goalie.
Exactly two minutes into the second, Ryan Donald added another Blades tally to give the Blades a two goal lead (assist to Galiardi). Right after the faceoff, Scott Fletcher took on one of the Express players. I'm going to say he won as his punches actually managed to hit his intended target. The Express managed to beat Muse a about four minutes later to make it a 2-1 game. At the 13:37 mark, Matt Marquardt cashed in on the power play to retake a two goal lead (assists to Rutherford and Quick). In the closing minutes of the period, the Express got yet another goal past Muse to make it 3-2. The period ended with that score in place.
Both teams traded chances in the third and both teams had a couple of close calls. There was a scuffle late in the period when one of the Express players took a chop at Muse after the whistle had blown. This was a few minutes after a minor scuffle had happened at the benches. In the closing minutes of the game, the Express pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. Brayden Irwin was able to cash in on a neutral zone flub and earn an empty net goal (assist to Falite). When the final buzzer sounded the Blades had skated away with a 4-2 victory.
Three Stars:
3. Donald
2. Pitt
1. Muse
Some Thoughts:
- Looks like the snowbirds have finally returned to roost. 5,740 fans in attendance. Pretty sure that's the best we've had all season.
- Ryan Donald was a +3. That's the best +/- of anyone on the ice. Awesome.
- Marquardt's (I will forever struggle with spelling his name by the way) power play goal was thanks in large part to David Rutherford's hard work. It's kind of a shame he wasn't given one of the stars. He was giving 200% last night.
- He also took on Donati twice. I will always appreciate anyone who gives one of the Donati brothers the business.
- Muse was a beast. Some of his saves were brilliant. At one point he lost his stick and grabbed and used Ryan Donalds. You can't stop the Moose guys.
- I'm glad the Checkers sent him down for some ice time. Pat Nagle needed a break and that little push Muse being around seems to give him.
- I vote we sign Scott Fletcher to a 10 year contract. Total BAMF.
- Anyone else notice the Express players complete lack of awareness to the fact they were playing a hockey game? I lost track of how many time their inattentiveness led to them dazed and sprawled on the ice.
- Along those lines... hello gritty physical Everblades. How you doin'? Wanna stick around for the rest of the season and maybe the next three or four?
Almost exactly a year after the Blades mixed it up with the Gladiators before they left for their Christmas break they brawled with the Trenton Titans. Crazy how these things work.
If you listen at the beginning of the video you do hear the radio announcer mention that this was probably in retaliation for Mitch Versteeg's nasty hit on Luc Tardif last night.
Unfortunately, I skipped the first Blades game of the season that I was free to go to for a dinner with family friends. Obviously I have no idea what the true root of this is, but I imagine it didn't happen less than ten seconds after the Blades sixth goal, an empty netter, for no reason. Here's the full list of penalties:
If you were at the game, feel free to add what you saw to the comments. Also, if you have video please post it! This is not the sort of thing you sit on and wait a two weeks to upload.
Also, on a slightly related note, The Blades are now sixth in the conference. How insane/competitive is the Southeast division right now? Three teams have 32 points and the Gladiators lead the Conference and division with 35.
After a disappointing loss on Wednesday, the Blades had to make a statement in Fridays game. Thankfully, they did. Oh boy, did they.
The Blades came out running at full steam. You could almost taste their determination to win. It paid off early with a power play goal for David Rutherford about one minute into the period (assists to Beca and Shugg). About eight and a half minutes later, the Jackals would tie it up on the power play 1-1.
Luckily, Ryan Galiardi notched his fifth of the season about three minutes later on an extended 5 on 3 to give the Blades the 2-1 lead (assists to Rutherford and Shugg). The rest of the period was uneventful, and the score remained 2-1 when both teams left the ice.
Just like last night the Everblades came to play in the second. They scored three goals and held the Jackals to their zone for most period. Ryan Galiardi scored his second of the game at 6:45 (assists to Pitt and Beca). Scott Pitt netted one of his own at 15:46 9 (assists to Galiardi and Beca). Oh, hey. Guess who got it on film?
Deron Cousens added one of his own at 18:34 (assists to Beca and Martin). That was the last of the goals for that period. There was some rough stuff in the closing minutes, but the Blades managed to come out on top penalty-wise. The score when the period ended was 5-1.
The Jackals tried their best to make something happen, but the Blades could not be stopped. About three minutes into the period, Matt Beca made it 6-1 (assists to Bruess and Donald). Elmira finally decided to give their goalie the hook after Beca's goal. Unfortunately, a little over a minute later, Mathieu Roy proved that no Jackals goalie was going to come between the Blades and the back of the net.
The Jackals were able to stop the bleeding... for awhile. At 15:22, Deron Cousens notched his second of the game to make it 8-1 (assist to Pitt). About three minutes after that, one of the Jackals beat Blades goalie Pat Nagle, but that didn't matter. The final score was 8-2. the Blades got a win they completely deserved.
Some thoughts:
- How amazing did the Blades look? I would gladly pay double if the team that played tonight would promise to show up every game. Heck, I probably wouldn't grumble about paying triple.
- I said we could beat Elmira's goaltender, and I was right. Excuse me while I sit smugly over here.
- Two goals each for Galiardi and Cousens. Nice to see everyone stepping up and contributing.
- Scott Pitt +5. Dude was everywhere, and it shows.
- Pat Nagle had 28 saves on 30 shots. A nice bounce back from last game.
- I guess Matt Beca isn't struggling anymore. 1 goal, 4 assists. Not bad at all Mr. Beca.
- I get the feeling that Saturday's game is going to be ugly. The officials were so determined to keep anything chippy from happening I wouldn't be surprised to see the pot boil over at some point. The Blades and Jackals are not friends.
The Everblades rolled into Kalamazoo with a two game win streak and the challenge of playing one of the better teams in the East. Luckily they were up for the challenge.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows though. Former Everblade Elgin Reid notched his first of the year with the first shot of the game at the 1:18 mark of the period to give the K-Wings the early lead. About six minutes later, David Rutherford notched his fifth of the season to tie it up 1-1 (assists to Salters and Van Dyk). That score remained when the period ended and the teams left the ice.
Both teams traded chances in the early part of the second. then, it happened. The Blades found that special something and broke K-Wings goalie Riley Gill's will to live. Trevor Bruess started it off at the 12:47 mark to make it 2-1 (assists to McKenzie and Van Dyk). Not to be outdone, Rutherford notched his second of the game with the prettiest goal ever on the power play to make it 3-1 at the 15:47 mark (assists to Roy and McKenzie). Mathieu Roy followed that up with a re-directed goal for a little extra insurance at 17:33 to make it 4-1 (assists to Fischer and Salters). At that point the K-Wings pulled Riley Gill to wake up the team and maybe give the poor sieve-tastic goalie some time to weep in the showers by himself. It put a hamper on the Blades domination, and the period ended with the Blades up 4-1.
The K-Wings tried their hardest to get back in the third, peppering Blades Goalie Pat Nagle with 22 shots over the course of the final period. Unfortunately for them, Nagle was in full beast mode. Nothing was getting by him. Even with about a minute of 5 on 3, the K-Wings could not find a way to score. There were some close calls of course. The most intense was easily the moment around 15:53 when David Fischer had to play goalie. Unfortunately, he was whistled for closing his hand on the puck during that play and the K-Wings had a chance to score on the penalty shot.
My research indicates that Nagle is an Irish surname that means "brick wall"
Boom, denied. The Wings just couldn't make anything work. To add insult to injury, David Rutherford was able to earn a hat-trick with an empty-netter just as the buzzer sounded (assist to McKenzie) to make it 5-1.
- Three stars:
3. A K-Wings player that didn't deserve it.
2. David Rutherford
1. Pat Nagle
-A video of the K-Wings coach making excuses and not giving Pat Nagle any deserved credit:
Some thoughts:
- 1 for 7 on the power play and 5-5 on the penalty kill? I'm a happy lady.
- Three assists for McKenzie, and two for Salters and Van Dyk respectively. Awesome.
- 46 saves on 47 shots is incredible. I want a Pat Nagle shirt so I can wear it constantly.
- Since Poss seems to give the start to the goalie that's been winning I'd bet Nagle will be in net tonight against K-Zoo.
- There's also some rumblings about Brian Boucher with the Canes being hurt or at least not up to playing. The domino of call-ups will no doubt pull John Muse away.
The Blades will play the K-Wings again tonight. Let's hope they can extend their win streak to four. This calls for a puppy (they've been so lucky lately):
After Wednesday's game, I figured the Nailers would come out with something to prove Friday. Unfortunately for them, the Blades are playing like their families are being held hostage and the ransom is a 10 game win streak.
The first half of the first period was relatively quiet (both figuratively and literally, we really need to make some noise during games guys) until almost 12 minutes into the game when DJ Rutherford netted his third of the season (Galiardi with the assist). Shortly after that the Ref realized he hadn't made a single call and the period was almost over. Thus, the biggest BS call Germain has seen in a long time was made. Goalie John Muse received a penalty for playing the puck outside of the crease. I can't even describe how stupid opting to penalize a goalie for something they all do is. Whatever, Robby Dee was there to fix everything. He netted an unassisted shortie for his fifth goal of the season. The Nailers were able to convert on their next power play unfortunately and the period saw the Blades holding only a 2-1 lead.
Thankfully, Alex Hutchings was able to convert on a power play that had carried over from the 1st 33 seconds into the second for his fifth of the season (Rutherford and Dee with assists). The Nailers got one past Muse a little over a minute later to narrow the lead again. The score stood at 3-2 until Leigh Salters netted his fourth of the season around the 11 minute mark (assists to Lawson and Galiardi). About two minutes later Nailers goalie Patrick Killeen took exception to Ryan Donald cooling him off with a little flurry of ice and tried to fight for the second time in the series. The Blades left the ice up 4-2 on the Nailers.
A little over five minutes into the third, Hutchings scored his second of the night to give the Blades a three goal lead (assists to Rutherford and Roy). Shortly after that, one of the Nailers delivered nasty check on Kyle Lawson. Sending him head first into the boards and leaving him dazed. Rutherford flew in to get some justice (and did pretty well getting it). Matt Beca netted his first of the season once the penalties were worked out to make it 6-2 (assist to Salters). Hutchings followed with his third of the night to make it 7-2 and earn a hat trick.
Some Thoughts:
- Muse stopped 32 of 34 shots. He's on fire right now.
- Two for four on the power play? I'll happily take that.
- Dee's shortie on a PK caused by a BS call was delicious. There was no better way to give the ol' middle finger to the ref than that.
- Gordie Howe hat trick for Rutherford. Awesome.
- How fun is it to watch Hutchings? If he doesn't end up with some NHL time I will be quite a sad lady.
- Bruess might not really land on the scoresheet too much but, Sweet Caroline, I love watching him. The dude does not quit when he wants the puck.
14 years of waiting and it feels good guys. It feels real good.
