The Red Army won a nail biter tonight 8-7 in what was easily the most entertaining game of the season- by far. Mark Hendricks had a career high six goals, while his brother Peter had a pair, including the game winner which came on a two man advantage with 18 seconds remaining in the game.
With Simek out for the season, and Neal, Beege, Odell, and Lynch out for tonight's game, Mother Russia called on old friend Steve Hand and called up Pat King from the Trailside Tigers. Pat contributed on the defensive front, while Hand wreaked havoc in front of the Indy net all night and factored in to a few of the Hendricks goals. The scoring was started by Mark, who gathered a rebound after a botched breakaway and fired top right. He added two more in the first period, giving his team the lead after one, 3-2.
Midway through the second the lead was increased to two after Peter and Steve's relentless forchecking. Steve was able to backhand a pass from the sideboards to Peter, who crept in and fired a wrister five hole. The celebration was brief though, as moments later the Indy's struck back, and the lead was one again. Mark continued the see-saw affair by scoring on a spectacular 1 on 1 move. He faked outside and cut inside, skated around the defender and potted the goal under the outstretched goaltender. Still in the second frame, during a lengthy shift spent in the Indy zone, Brad found Mark in the slot, and Mark found daylight. It increased the lead to three, the biggest lead of the game. But with just five skaters and the odometers rising, no lead was safe. The Indys decreased the margin to two just before the second intermission.
"Not much was said during those two minutes on the bench. Mark was lying down on the rink trying to catch his breath, everyone else was breathing heavy and drinking lots of water. Brad said a few words, just reminding us to play smart. It was cool to be reunited with my old mates. It felt right." Hand said afterwards. "We knew the 3rd period was going to be tough. But we were fighting for each other. Doesn't matter if I play for the Redder Army, or Pat isn't on the roster, for 45 minutes tonight we bled red. I mean, like Red Army. I guess we all bleed red. We were a unit out there."
It was evident that the game plan going into the third had changed. What had been a run and gun offense with crisp passing and swift skating had changed to a dump and chase mentality with no forechecking presence. It worked for the first half of the period, but the Indys kept coming. Scoring two goals in the span of 90 seconds, the game was tied at 6 with just over five minutes to play. When many thought there was nothing left in the tank, the Red Army went to its bread and butter, #18. Mark, who seemed vehement to not let his career night go to waste, pushed the ensuing faceoff through the center's legs and found Hand springing into the offensive zone. Hand skated in then fed a beautiful pass back to Mark, who fired a shot top shelf before falling down. The celebration, probably the most controversial of the season, was Mark humping the rink. No fines have been issued yet, but the league released a statement saying that "The matter is being looked into."
As only appropriate, within seconds the game was even again, this time at 7. Certainly there was no feasible way that Mother Russia had one more goal in them. Players were gasping for air between breaks and the water supply had run out. But with just under 90 seconds left, a glimmer of victorious hope arrived, as an Indy player was called for tripping Mark. The power play went to work, peppering shots on but couldn't dent the twine. Then, with 30 seconds remaining Mark was interfered with behind the goal, resulting in a 4 on 2 power play with 22 seconds remaining. "I'll be honest, I didn't think I was going to get that call. But I kept my feet moving and I saw his (the ref's) arm go up and I just thought... damn... now we have to score." And it took all of five seconds. Mark won the faceoff back to Brad, who found Peter in the slot. Peter's shot hit the blocker and fluttered in the air before trickling over the goal line. What had seemed impossible, became very real. As the final seconds ticked off, the puck 200 feet away from the Red Army goal, Mark raised his hands to the air and let out a "Fuck yeah!" Cause really, that was a fucking great game.
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