Red Army Now Poised to Repeat

It's official. What we thought was true for so long now has been confirmed. Just hours ago, the Surgeon General of the United States of America released a statement informing citizens that the Red Army is allergic to death.

Well, not really, but holy smokes how hard have the Soviets become to eliminate? The last team to send Mother Russia packing was Prestige Worldwide, and it took them a shot at the buzzer while on the power play to slay her. That was half a year ago. Since then, five other teams have tried. All have failed.

Tonight, bar none, was the closest any team has come to derailing the Red Army. The Shockers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and seemed to be dominating every facet of the game. Unfortunately for the Shockers, the game was three periods long, and not one.

"Make no mistake about it," Captain Steve Hand said after the game. "We played [terribly] in the first period. We were scrambling around and sure, Andy would like to make some of those saves, but the first two or three were total defensive lapses. We know we can comeback, we came back from two goals the last game, but five goals? I'm not sure if everyone on the bench in that period wasn't thinking this was our last game of the season."

The Shockers did open up the scoring by converting on odd man rush opportunities. The first goal of the game came when a forward deked Tony Horton, skated in alone on Andy Schram, and fired one past the glove. Moments later, Hendricks was the only man back defending a two on one, and the league leading scorer was unable to stop a cross crease pass that set up a wide open net shot to make it 2-0.

"I told [Schram] after that went in that it wasn't his fault," Hendricks said. "It's frustrating because we know he tends to struggle in the opening minutes, and we're not doing ourselves or him any favors when we don't provide any defense for him."

Before long the two goal deficit became three, then four, and then five. Change was coming.

"We had started with Ben on offense and me on defense," Horton said. "It obviously didn't work, so Mark called the switch. Things were a bit scrambled to readjust the lines, but the adjustment needed to happen. We had to stop the bleeding."

Salvation came in the form of a high stick. With just over two minutes to play in the frame, Hendricks drew a penalty after taking a stick up high on his cage. The forward threw his arms in the air to draw the attention of the official. The arm went up, and the Red Army went to the man advantage.

"It was a must score. No doubt about it," said Scott Hoefer, who would go on to score his first goal of the playoffs later in the game.

Off of the face-off, Hendricks corralled the puck at the blue line and fed a pass to Breiterman. Breiterman fired a low snap shot that hit some of the bodies in front of the net and landed on the stick of Pat King. King stuffed home the rebound to put the Soviets on the board.

There was a faint heartbeat on the season.

"We just wanted to get something going, so that was a positive we could take out of the period. We just needed something, anything."

With the score 5-1 after the first period, the panic that might have been expected form past teams was not present. This was a team that had just won a championship, a team that had proved it belong in the postseason, and a team with the intent on defending the throne.

"Skate hard, get off, get water, get out, and skate hard again," Hand said. "That's what we said on the bench. If you're not skating your [butt] off, get to the bench."

The Comrades skated hard, and the comeback was on. At the tail end of the first shift of the period, Brad Lotocki made an inside out move after receiving a pass from Horton, and fired a shot that squeaked over the goal line to cut the lead to three.

On the ensuing face-off, the puck was pushed ahead to Hendricks and the forward raced in wide on the goal. After faking a backhander, Hendricks skated around the net and stuffed the puck just inside the post before the goalie was able to get over.

Then, later in the same shift, just after being denied on a breakaway, Hendricks stuffed home a bouncing puck that had taken a lively carom off the end boards and bounced right back in front after being shot by Hoefer.

"Both teams could sense it," Lotocki said. "We had all the momentum in the world and they were fading. Momentum is a funny thing. Sometimes you think you have everything going for you, then a pack of grizzly bear-riding lumberjacks attack your village and you realize you have nothing. Yes, the Bear Cavalry is real my friend, and if you don't believe in it, then it's already too late."

The Soviets didn't waste much time to tie it. Hoefer, on an innocent looking play, sent a pass intended for Hendricks to the front of the net. The goalie, expecting Hendricks to catch the pass, followed Hendricks. The puck though, missed Hendricks, as well as the goalie, and found the back the net.

"I'm not sure how that one went in," Hoefer said. "I'll take it. The old pass shot. I have mastered it."

Hendricks completed his hat trick on the same shift when he was the beneficiary of King's hard work to create a two on one. King stripped a Shocker near center, then beat a defender to create a scoring opportunity. After the remaining defender lunged for the poke check, King put the puck on the backhand and sauced a pass on to Hendricks' tape. Hendricks, with the puck on his forehand and the goalie down and out, made no mistake about it, and roofed the puck top shelf where Aunt Gabrielle insists there is brownie mix because she just went to the store last week.

Finally, the goal run ended and the Shockers scored to knot the score at six. It would remain that way going into the third period.

"They won the first period 5-1, we won the second 5-1, I think we liked our chances," Bryan Lynch said. "As long as we didn't give up five goals, we liked our chances, I mean."

Unlike the first two periods, there were no goals early in the third period. In fact, half way through the final stanza, it remained tied at six. Then the Captain created. After engaging in a pretty give and go, Hand fanned on a one timer in the slot and shanked his shot wide. The puck hit the backboards and banked back to the front of the net where Breiterman was poaching. The man who scored five goals in round one scored the biggest goal of round two, giving the Comrades a lead with just over five minutes to play.

"It's all about the Benjamin, baby," Breiterman said as he threw a fistful of dollar bills with his face imprinted on the center into the air. "Those are actually legal tender in parts of Israel," he added, stooping down to collect the dollars.

The Shockers called a time out, regrouped, and came at the Comrades with everything they had.

Schram had more.

The goalie rebounded from his slow start by making kick saves, blocker saves, and glove saves. With an active poke check, the Iron Curtain steered everything aside and, as he has done time and time again this season, shut the door in the third.

"I owed to the team, and once they got back into it I knew I was going to play better. I just have to figure out a way to get past that first period. Maybe we'll just refer to them from now on as quarters. The first quarter probably will treat me better."

With exactly two minutes remaining, arch nemesis Stefan Loges was tangled up with Lynch, and the two were assessed roughing penalties. With Loges in the box, the Shockers threat to score was halved.

"Veteran play by Lynch right there," said Simek. "They don't teach that in any hockey schools."

Simek, who again played outstanding tonight, was praised by his teammates after the game.

"[Simek] has really stepped up his game," Hendricks said. "He's breaking it out and getting shots on and doing all the little things that make the team successful. He's added another element to this team. If this were a balance sheet, let's just say he is an asset."

With a minute remaining the Shockers pulled their goalie. Not surprisingly, the Hand/Horton line was the line out there to seal the deal. Continuing their consistent defensive play throughout the night, they limited the Shockers to only one shot in the final minute, and it was flashy toe save by Schram.

The clinching play came in the final seconds. After losing his stick, Hoefer kicked the puck to the boards to try and eat away some of the clock. With three Shockers on him, he battled for ten seconds along the boards before kicking it over to Breiterman. Breiterman skated the puck up, passed it to Hand, and Hand netted his first of the game and third of the post season as time expired.

The Comrades were moving on to the Championship series, and the heartbeat that once was a murmur, was now pounding out of the collective chests of the Soviets.

"No doubt about it, we made it hard on ourselves tonight," Hoefer said. "But in the end, it's all about winning. You have to do whatever it takes, and when you like winning as much as I do, sometimes you don't even need a [freaking] stick."

OTHER NOTES:
-The Red Army will face the Grenades in the Championship Series
-The Red Army went 1-1 versus the Grenades this year, losing the first game 7-6 and winning the second game by the same score of 7-6
-The start time for Thursday's game 1 is 9:00 pm but is subject to change


THREE STARS:
3: Pat King
2: Scott Hoefer
1: Steve Hand