Wednesday February 22
Legacy battle, but Altius pull away in the third period
It was a close game through two periods, but an offensive explosion by the Altius saw them pull away in the third period, and deal Legacy an 8-5 loss. P.Arkalis led the charge with back to back third period goals, D.Primeau buried a pair, K.Kuczmarski collected four points and M.Melo was stout in net facing just over 30 shots to earn the win. Legacy hoped to have built off their momentum when they struck twice late in the second period to pull themselves within one. Rather than continuing their pace, the Altius regained control thanks to some connecting plays between P.Arkalis, K.Kuczmarski and J.Provost-Blais. The three players have the ability to contribute when the games are on the line. That’s what you get when players know where they are every time they are on the court. The Altius had their top guns deliver at a crucial point during the game while Legacy couldn’t execute despite having the weapons to do so as well. Sometimes , it just goes better for one side which was the case for the Altius on this particular night.
Punishers ride strong first period to victory over Azzuri
(7)Punishers vs Azzuri(3)
The Azzuri understood that there isn’t much margin of error if they plan on taking down the Punishers. Yes, they had a poor start giving up a very early goal, but you cannot afford to be taken advantage of your own power play. They knew that their night was going to potentially be a long one when they gave up a shorthanded marker by only the five minute mark. Then, just to add some more salt to the wound, A.Argiroudis scored late in the first period with only ten seconds remaining. There was no doubt that it became a tall order for the Azzuri to try and battle back for some sort of miracle comeback. Sometimes, the mind set needs to be to just try and take it a shift at a time and not pay to much attention at the score. And to their credit, the Azzuri kept pace with their opposition even though they couldn’t make much ground. The two sides traded a pair of second period goals before C.Genest provided more insurance rattling off a pair by the third to complete his hat trick.
The SalumiVino player of the night goes to Peter Arkalis of the Altius. In a close 5-4 game heading into the final stanza, P.Arkalis took over posting two big goals to help solidify the win for the Altius.
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