It was a game of give and take. A game of ebb and flow. It featured highlight reel goals, great saves, and big hits. It also featured soft goals, skaters falling on phantom banana peels, and shanked one timers. It was a game of "anything you can do, I can do better...and then shit my pants." It was beautiful at times and stinky at others. It was a game that Mother Russia coulda, shoulda, and woulda won, but ultimately didn't.
Let's take a look at the positives, and there were a lot of them.
-The impressive defensive pairings of Jerrod/Tony and Jamie/Andy. I'm sure we all groaned a little bit when we didn't see Brad back there, but wow, that was a shut down performance if I've ever seen one.
-The first goalie for the Red Army.
-Mark's hat trick, more specifically the first goal, where he burst down the wing and fired top shelf right where mommy hides the peanut butter.
-Mark's hat trick, more specifically the second goal, where he took a great feed form Jerrod and one timed a shot past the goalie.
-Mark's hat trick, more specifically the third goal, where he dangled and dangled until he couldn't dangle anymore, and somehow fired a shot through 6 legs that found the twine.
-Jerrod, that guy is a beast.
-Andy's hit. Just wow.
-Steve is looking faster and faster on skates. If his hands catch up to his feet, we could be looking at a 15-20 goal scorer.
The Negatives:
-Goaltending. As an ex-goalie, I'm always the last one to throw the netminder under the bus, but last night is a game Kraus wants back. If you look at his stats for last night, he faced 15 shots, made 11 saves, and gave up 5 goals. Those numbers don't add up, right? That's because one shot wasn't going in, and he made like Thomas Holmstrom and tipped that bad boy in. Terrible.
-Penalties. Andy's slash was barbaric, Jerrod's trip marginal, and Chris's roughing questionable. But Kraus's unsportsmanlike was stupid. Don't break your stick in a two goal game. It ain't over til the fat lady sings.
-Powerplay organization. With 2:30 to play, the soviets were awarded a power play. Not sure if there was confusion on the bench or not, but it would have been better served to have a big body in front, such as Andy, Steve, or Tony, and then shooters up top like Mark, Jerrod, Jamie, or Chris. With Tony at the point, he wasn't given enough time to unload his shot, and Mother Russia didn't generate much offense. Except for one golden chance...
-Mark's miss. We all love #18 because he rarely misses, but when he misses, he misses big. Inexcusable.
-Officiating? Hmmm, who thought Scissor Me Timbers got away with taking some liberties on the commies?
So where do we go from here? Well, tomorrow is another game. Not sure if the Red Army will be with Mark or Brad, as they both have a double header earlier in the night. But if Mother Russia plays with the same desire they did last night, don't count them out of any game.
PLAYER QUOTES:
-A new feature here at RAD, I'll now post a line or quote from each player's thoughts after the game.
"I thought the effort was there, the offense played well, the defense played well, our special teams played well... am I forgetting anybody? There isn't one position responsible for keeping the puck out of the net is there. Cause that position didn't exist tonight! Heyooo! Just kidding, he'll make it up to us, he better. He...better."
-Jerrod Funk
"We played great as a unit I thought. A few lapses here and there but that was a sound game. We definitely had a collective stew going."
-Mark Hendricks
"I wasn't there."
-Brad Lotocki
"Bahhh man I shoulda buried one there but I'll get it next time. (Head butts a reporter). Same, silly, PEP."
-Jamie Simek
"Where are my German boys!"
-Tony Horton
"I am going to kill the next person that hooks me."
-Chris Duhaime
"Is that a banana!?!?!"
-Steve Hand
I think I got everybody.
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