Monday December 19 (finals, division 2)

Battle of two deserving sides goes the distance, Degenerates prevail by a hair over ETNA

It came down to a game three series after ETNA responded with a big game two win. The Degenerates were glad to be ahead after squeezing out a very close 2-1 win to kick start the night. A.Desrosiers and P.Paikopoulos had each scored, and C.Stavriadis was calm and collective making the necessary saves. For a very good portion of the game, the Degenerates barely made mistakes expect for maybe one time as they got caught on a line change. That one play saw M.Calabrice all alone on a breakaway where he made no mistake to bury his chance. Still, the Degenerates were up, and made sure to tighten the bolts by keeping a desperate ETNA team to the outside. To their credit, they killed off the clock en route to a nail biting win. Its always nice to be ahead, but that’s only half the work done if you pan on reaching the finish line. Even though the Degenerates expressed between games that the first five minutes were vital, it still didn’t stop ETNA-from responding with two quick goals. All of a sudden, this series took a turn as ETNA were now the ones dictating the match. However, that didn’t stop the Degenerates-from battling back as they put everything on the line in hopes of avoiding a game three. P.Stroubakis used an early second period power play goal to tie the game at 3-3, and put the Degenerates in a strong position by riding their momentum. From-that point on, the two sides played it cautious not giving up room out there that can ultimately decide the outcome of this series. It really came down to seizing the moment  when it presented itself. As the game started to wind down into the final two minutes, M.Alfieri dug the ball out-from under C.Stavriadis, who thought he had it by feeding the open net. That goal proved to be just enough for ETNA to hold up and force a third an deciding game. Now that this series was knotted up at one game a piece , twelve minutes or possibly more stood in the way to see who would come out on top. Scoring first usually comes a long way in such a format. This time, O.Valiquette was able to provide it for the Degenerates on a brilliant one timer that gave M.Stoico no chance of reaching it. The good news fro ETNA was that it came early which gave them plenty of time to respond. They did manage the equaliser five minutes later courtesy of D.Petraccia. With the way the night had been going, it was only fitting that more drama would take place. Rather than dwelling on giving up their slight edge, A.Desrosiers wasted barely a minute to regain the lead for the Degenerates on a hard wrist shot that went top corner. Its one thing to give up a lead once, and another to let it slip away for a second time. The Degenerates knew what was at stake with just over four minutes left in the season. By playing it a shift at a time, every single player put their maximum effort in making sure to prevent anymore goals. ETNA was now forced to pull out their net minder for the extra attacker. Although they had ball possession to generate some shots toward the net, the Degenerates defence kept getting in front of the ball while at worse case C.Stavriadis would be there to make the saves. Eventually, S.Marricco got access to the ball, and kept winning some very strong battles along the boards before finding himself feeding an empty cage. All that was left over-from there on was to bleed out the few seconds remaining for the Degenerates. Prior to this series, both teams felt confident about their chances, but knew that it could have gone either way. Tonight, the Degenerates were able to make that one extra big play that led them to another very close win. On behalf of Hockeyballe.com, congratulations go out to Sebastian Sicuso for putting together a mix of good players that found a way to getting it done.

(2)Degenerates vs ETNA(1) Game 1

(4)ETNA vs Degenerates(3) Game 2

(3)Degenerates vs ETNA(1) Game 3

The SalumiVino player of the night goes to Perry Stroubakis of the Degenerates. No question that P.Stroubakis provided the legs, energy and a bunch of points to help carry some aging legs to a championship run.