Monday July 25

Orient able to take points away from Classics

It didn’t come right away, but the Orient did something significant on Monday night, and that was to halt the Classics to a tie. So far no one has been able to figure out how to stop a well oiled machine that picked up their eleventh straight win into the regular season. The Orient finally put an end to it on a 3-3 draw after taking three straight leads during that second encounter. Every time the Orient would pull ahead, the Classics had a response. Neither side was able to get it done in the shootouts with both net minders denying all three attempts their way. S.Morante faced a total of 44 shots during the two games for the Classics while E.Paradis Levassuer was just as busy stopping 34 of 43 shots. P.Karvouriars continues to shred his opponents defence and net minders scoring an earlier hat trick for the Classics. The Orient did have one of their main sharp shooters do damage as J.Saydi notched a pair in that same game. The second encounter had more balanced offense on scoring efforts coming-from different players.

(6)Classics vs Orient(3)

(3)Orient vs Classics(3) S.O

Degenerates kept falling behind to Horsemen unable to recover

On a few occasions, some missed chances and lack of intensity cost the Degenerates in both their losses to the Horsemen. In the two encounters, the games remained fairly close up until a certain point where the Horsemen were able to pull away. Unfortunately for the Degenerates, flooring a short bench made it that much harder to battle back. Once J-K Cazeneuve and J.Crivello scored within 19 seconds apart  for the Horsemen things just got that much harder for the tired side. All that was left at one point was to focus on trying to put up a better fight in the ensuing match. For just over a period, neither side had yet conceded a goal which could be argued it favoured the Degenerates since they had only one more period to manage. Unlike that opening frame, the game turned into a barn burner fast, at least in the first five minutes where the Horsemen out of nowhere found themselves up 3-2.Still, the Degenerates were only one shot away-from tying the game with plenty of time left over. In hopes of trying to get that much needed marker, B.Rubino got it instead for the Horsemen on a blistering slap shot. That two goal cushion leaving four minutes on the clock was more than enough for a team that was in total control-from that point on.

(2)Degenerates vs Horsemen(6)

(4)Horsemen vs Degenerates(2)

RCGT Knights unable to build off strong finish vs Snipers

Perhaps this was a case where momentum didn’t really mean much for the RCGT Knights. After closing out the first game on a strong finish turning a slight deficit into a lead, the RCGT Knights couldn’t carry that good energy into the next encounter. It almost seemed like it upset the Snipers instead. From-the drop of the ball, the Snipers were clearly driven by what had just happened to them. By the time the first period ended, J.Hassan had scored two goals while Ali Khanafer and H.Awada took turns as well finding the back of the net. The RCGT Knights were completely thrown off, and clearly dominated by a hungrier side. Maybe it was just a lack of urgency for one team and a sense of determination by the other. Regardless, the Snipers made it clear that they wanted nothing less than to take the second match after knowing they blew the first one. J.Prevost was credited the winner for the RCGT Knights while S.Sauk was firm in net facing just over 20 shots. He may not have been as busy, but M.St-Laurent did his part recording a 13 save shutout for the Snipers.

(3)RCGT Knights vs Snipers(2)

(6)Snipers vs RCGT Knights(0)

Country Club soar past struggling Big Timer

It wasn’t really up until the second period that the Country Clubs offense came in full force versus the Big Time. This contest was dead even after one period, and the Big Time actually took the 2-1 lead when B.Boni snapped the early second period tie . Then, it all fell apart for the Big Timer. The Country Club just went on a scoring rampage-from that point on with three particular players leading the way. S.Pilot, C.Payette and newly added K.Bomanado proved to be more than a handful as all three players combined for 13 points. S.Pilot did have the most influence participating in six of the seven goals. The second game didn’t quite start off well for the Big Timer, who suddenly fell behind 3-0 by the six minute mark. They did get the next tally shortly after courtesy of A.Toure, but that was about all the offense they generated the rest of the way. Unlike the previous match, the Country Club had some balance in the goals department with five different players finding the back of the net. The Big Timer cant seem to put out a consistent 24 minute effort in order to get some results. They often battle hard for one period, but cant seem to carry the rhythm long enough in order to give themselves a chance.

(7)Country Club vs Big Timer(2)

(1)Big Timer vs Country Club(5)

A high energy relentless style makes the difference in both encounter between HC Jokerit and Degenerates

Powered by a tenacious fore check, the HC Jokerit did the right thing in order to grab two good results versus the Degenerates. Different teams have different identities to their style, but its safe to say that the HC Jokerit true calling card is their ability to keep putting pressure when playing without the ball. With that, turn overs occur and scoring chances are generated. They accomplished their mission by removing lots of time and space versus a side that just didn’t have the stamina and body count to keep up, especially after playing an hour earlier. The Degenerates understood to keep the games as close as possible in order to have any sort of chance. They did manage that on the large part, but eventually it caught up to them. The HC Jokerit got an overall balanced scoring production with many players finding the back of the net. R.Ricaurte did an excellent job guarding his cage as the net minder made some important saves at key moments during the night. Overall, two deserving wins for a team that put way more effort into their game.

(2)Degenerates vs HC Jokerit(4)

(6)HC Jokerit vs Degenerates(2)

The SalumiVino player of the night goes to Robert Ricaurte of the HC Jokerit. The net minder looked like he was in his element making some big stops at the right moment in both games which enabled his offense feed off it and get the job done.