3-1

Now that we're a little more than a fourth of the way through the season (2/7 of the way to be exact), the identity of this season's Red Army seems to reveal a new character trait with each passing period. The three periods tonight showed that this team can cycle the puck, block shots, and play a totally dominating hockey game when everyone is committed. With a convincing 5-1 victory tonight of the Cryptic Stench, the Soviets improved to 3-1 on the season, extended their winning streak to three games, and are tied with Prestige Worldwide atop the Silver South standings.

Ten more notes on the proverbial febreezing of the Stench:

• No doubt, Jamie Simek wanted to show his teammates that he could play better in net. Tonight, he did just that. The Samurai wielding netminder was beaten only once and stopped everything he saw, doing a decent job of controlling rebounds along the way.
• Not allowing goals is a team effort though, and does not fall solely on the shoulders of one individual. The Red Army as a unit did a fantastic job of disrupting passes and blocking shots. Ryan Odell led the team in blocked shots (I think that's 384 games in a row) while Mike D'Ignazio led the team in guilting other forwards to back check.
• The addition of D'Ignazio is well documented. The addition of Jason White is not. In White's first game, he registered two assists while playing forward. Tonight he moved back to his regular position at defense but didn't slow down the offensive production, scoring his first goal of the season on a rising slap shot and dishing out an assist as well. Man, that Mark Hendricks guy sure knows how to be a General Manger, doesn't he?
  
• Tony Horton also scored his first goal of the season tonight on an absolute rocket or a wrist shot. It is, to date, the snipe of the season.
• Getting offensive production from your defense is important. Tonight, every defenseman who dressed scored a goal. Before tonight, only one defender had scored. Now, at least the defense has contributed for a somewhat respectable 23% (5 of 22) of the Red Army's goals. Of course, having Ben Breiterman in the line up is sure to make that percentage rise a bit too.
• D'Ignazio was relatively quiet tonight, but he did score once (the eventual game-winner). Even when he isn't making things happen offensively though, he finds ways to reproduce in other areas of the rink, like drawing penalties or breaking up passes. D'Igger please....keep it up.
• D'Ignazio's linemate Steve Hand continued his streak of registering at least a point in each game so far this season. The Captain, from his knees, found Hendricks for a breakaway outlet pass in the second period.
• And the breakaway? A gorgeous backhander to the roof, right where Momma hides the Nabisco products. Hendricks is now 1 for 28 on breakaways this season, which puts him on pace to set a career high for converting (3.57%). Also, apparently he can take faceoffs, as #18 was a perfect 6 for 6 on the dot tonight. It's a good thing David Steckel doesn't play for the Red Army or he'd be traded again.
  
• So, five goals tonight from five different goal scorers.
• HOGSTACHE SEES ITS SHADOW (Pete Collis, AP)

Stats:

Goals:
FIRST PERIOD
1: Horton (Hendricks)
SECOND PERIOD
2: D'Ignazio (White)
3: White (Hendricks, Collis)
4: Hendricks (Hand)
THIRD PERIOD
5: Odell (unassisted)

Penalties:
None

THREE STARS:
3: Jason White
2: Mark Hendricks
1: Jamie Simek