Halifax Floor Hockey League
Prior to the drop of the first ball, the Fire were buoyed by the arrival of Donny Bailey. It was only his second game of the season, and coincidentally his second game against the Sabres. And it was Bailey himself who got the scoring underway, when he converted on a scramble precipitated by a Lite-Sabres turnover. Spiro Bokolas soon answered for the Sabres, beating Fire goalie Chris Griffin to tie the game at one. The Fire restored their lead when a Mark Thompson shot took a fortuitous deflection and found its way to the back of the Sabres goal. Odin Ortiz then doubled the Fire’s lead when he poked a loose ball between the open legs of sprawling Sabres goalie Chris McMaster. A late Bokolas goal made the margin 3-2 for the Fire entering the second period.
The second period began just as the first ended, with a Bokolas goal. And when the Fire took a Too Many Men penalty, the Sabres seemed poised to take control. But in fact it was the Fire who had the advantage during the powerplay. First it was Jeff Shute who potted a rebound for a short-handed marker. Then it was Shawn Currie’s turn, as his hard screen shot from deep in his own zone found its way between an unprepared McMaster’s legs. When the powerplay had finally ended, the Fire held a 5-3 lead.
But as the Sabres have done in all their wins this season, they then proceeded to have a stretch of play in which they were dominant. The Sabres scored the final five goals of the second period, including three by hardworking defenseman Matt Monk.
Entering the third period down by three, the Fire realized that this might still be their best opportunity to win a game in the regular season, with their final two games coming against the top two teams in the standings. Shute first cut the Sabres’ lead to two, but that goal was quickly countered by another Monk goal. Bailey once again reduced the deficit to two with his second goal of the game, before Chad Griffin replied again for the Sabres, effectively dashing the hopes of the Fire.
The teams scored two more goals apiece on the tiring goalies, making the final margin of victory 12-9. Bailey, Monk and Bokolas all tallied four goals, while Chad Griffin notched three goals and two assists. Fire goaltender Chris Griffin took the loss, but played valiantly in a substitute role for his vacationing captain Harvey Snelgrove. McMaster picked up the win in goal for the Sabres, overcoming some clumsiness that he blamed on new gear. “I was running out of good excuses,” explained McMaster, “so I thought if I picked up some new gear, I could blame my poor play on it.”
The Fire entered the game in a dogfight with the Sunnydale Slayers to avoid finishing last overall in the standings. Unless one of those two teams can pick up points in their final two games, fifth place may be decided by goals for and against (Slayers currently have a +9 advantage).
With the victory, the Sabres become the first team to lock up their final position in the standings: fourth place. It is the first time in two years that the Sabres have finished as low as fourth place in the regular season. This means that they will be the home team in a quarterfinal game against the Slayers or Fire.
Notes: Chad Griffin tied absent Fire forward Kenzie Royal atop the all time games leader list, with his 98th regular season game…Matt Monk scored his fifth career powerplay goal, two more than anybody in league history…the current Fire squad has the three all-time leading penalty minute getters (Chris Griffin – 14, Shawn Currie – 12, Mark Thompson -12)…Chris McMaster finally tied John Dulong atop the all-time wins list with his 46th win. McMaster took 75 games to reach the mark, whereas Dulong only took 58 games in goal.