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We had a very disappointing loss last week against the Blue Flames -- the problem wasn't so much that we lost --- especially against a wicked team that is still undefeated.....it's more that we scored enough goals to win, but huge defensive break-downs cost us the win.....so we knew we couldn't afford to do that this week against another undefeated team -- our old nemesis, the Godfathers....

There was obvious intensity in the air right off the bat as both teams knew they were likely in store for a good battle --- and the Godfathers broke the ice as the infamous Mike Kay scored 2 minutes in on a rebound off a 2-on-1 --- and not 30 seconds later, Kay came in on a break-away, but our masked man Yeates stoned him with a solid save.....a little over a minute later, Scatch bulged the twine after a nice give-and-go with Terry....and 30 seconds later, spare D-man Paul made a great read to intercept a pass at half and he got the ball into the left corner for his brother Terry, and "TO" smartly walked out from the corner and fired home a nice wrist shot to give us the lead.....no scoring for the next 12-13 mins as both goalies were putting on a show......then the G-men tied it up after a long scramble at the top of the crease ---- score was 2-2 after 1 period of great action....

The two goalies kept making big saves for the first 8-9 minutes of the 2nd period until Terry took a nice quick pass from D-man Bernie, and TO cleverly used their D-man as a screen and blasted a perfectly placed shot high blocker side.....but less than a minute later, on another 2-on-1, Yeates made the initial save on a backhand, but the rebound kind of spun backwards and barely crossed the line......and about 5-6 mins later, the Godfathers regained the lead as they knocked home their 4th rebound on the play.....but with just a few seconds left in the frame, Terry capped off his hat-trick (and 8th goal in his last 2 games against the 2 best teams) as he again walked out from behind the goal-line and found a hole to get the ball past their terrific netminder......making the score 4-4 after 2 periods --- it was still anybody's game!

Just over a minute into the 3rd, Fynn (back from a little hiatus) made a great play near half to break up a dangerous chance, then he fed a perfect pass to Scatch who actually fanned a little on his one-timer but it was enough to fool their tender and give us a 1-goal 3rd period lead......but these Godfathers are the 2-time Defending Champs for good reason, they have only lost once in over 30 games in this league, and they have some excellent clutch players --- and with about only 10 minutes left to play, the Godfathers tied the game on a point shot that mysteriously found its way between Yeates' huge pad and the post....the game remained tied for the next 4-5 minutes as both teams were giving it their all to steal a win away from a very good team......then the crafty veteran star Mike Kay made one of his deceptive moves into the high slot and he fired a laser wrist shot precisely into the top corner.....about a 1 min later, they scored again on a nice one-timer -- so we were down 2 goals with about 4 mins left to play.....then, a scene to ruin a perfectly well-fought game --- a goon Godfather took exception with Terry (maybe because Terry had the nerve to slash his stick, or maybe because Terry schooled him on one or two of his 3 goals), in any case, he threw not one, not two, not even three, but four punches at Terry's head --- resulting in....wait for it, a mere yellow card! We've all seen our own and other players tossed from games for 1/4 (literally) of what this guy did --- but whatever, the game went on and Kay capped off his own hat-trick to make the final 8-5 for the bad guys.....but except for that one-man goonshow for 30 seconds, it was a great battle that was hard fought on every shift and they deserve credit for pulling through in the clutch...

Would have been nice to see how we would do with our two sick players, Prevost and Colin, there -- one is our spark-plug good for creating at least 2-3 goals a game and the other is our youngest, quickest and most quietly effective D-man who might have been able to keep up with Kay ----- but we won't find out this season....it's really a shame (and we have nobody to blame but ourselves) that we won't be in the top-4 playoff pool for the first time --- because, whether they admit it or not, we just gave quite a scare to the two top teams in our league, and I have no doubt they're happy they're dodging a bullet to not have to face our squad in the playoffs.....

Stats for the game: Scatch 2G.....Paul 1A.....Bernie 1A.....Rich 1A.....Terry 3G, 1A.....Fynn 1A.....

Flyers 3 Stars as voted by our teammates:

---- #1 ---- in a pretty close vote, the collective nod goes to Terry not only for notching 3 big goals and picking up 1 assist --- but he also generated about 6 other glorious chances to add to his impressive 11 goals in just 4 games......plus, it's worth noting that while being a typical "TO" exchanging verbal pleasantries with his equally-yappy opponents, Terry gets a lot of credit for keeping his cool and not retaliating after being punched 4 times....

---- #2 ---- the clear 2nd star goes to our big man Scatch who notched our other 2 goals and he too could have had a few more with all the chances he created -- and as always, Scatch worked just as hard to defend our zone.....

---- #3 ---- goes to our man between the pipes Yeatesy who bounced back from a sub-par performance to deliver one of his best this season --- he was square to the shooters, was precise in his rebound control and he kept his composure throughout this roller-coaster game until after the final whistle when he had enough of some Godfatherly preaching.....

Honourable mention goes to spare D-man Paul who garnered praise from 5 voters for his tenacious play in our end, and he made at least 4-5 excellent reads to break up plays before they became dangerous -- he also created some rare offence with a couple of great shots on net along with some good passes including 1 assist.......also getting star votes were Bernie, Richie, and Billy.....

Next week we play at 8:00pm against a new team in our Division -- les Nordiques Samurais --- who are in 2nd last place