Chill Split Week 5 Doubleheader

For the first time in League history, a team was forced to play games on successive nights. To make up for the game they missed in Week 1, the Chill played the Hackers Tuesday, one night after their regularly scheduled meeting with the Fire.

The Chill came out firing Monday, peppering Fire goalie Harvey Snelgrove with 35 first period shots on the way to building a 9-0 lead. Craig Mercer scored a natural hat trick in the opening frame, but his teammate Mike Hashem did one better, notching the last 2 goals of the 2nd period and the first 2 goals of the 3rd. Hashem finished with 6 tallies on the night, Craig Mercer and brother Andrew each had 5, while Captain David Watson added a hat trick of his own in the 21-4 win. Mike Griffiths was solid in goal stopping 37 of 41 Fire shots.

Griffiths’ 37-save effort unfortunately brought on a severe case of Doolys-itis, and he was unable to start the next night. Watson turned to his solid defenseman and goalie-wannabe Mark Smith to face the Hackers. After a shaky beginning, Smith played much better as the game wore on, but the Hackers led 6-2 after one and were never seriously threatened. Jeff Shute paced the Hacker attack with 6 goals, while Virag Pandya added 4 as their club prevailed 15-7. Smith immediately announced his retirement from goaltending after the game.