Halifax Floor Hockey LeagueSo without any further gobbledegook, let’s get started!
Chill vs Fire
The first game of the night saw the Chill led by newbie captain Rylan Smith coming in to face the new look Fire led by captain Alex Gale. Shortly into this one Wes Cook tallied the first goal of the season on a pass from Rylan Smith. This was followed up by a goal from Rylan Smith off a sweet pass from rookie D man Alex De Sousa. Chill up 2 zip so far. But Anil Snook took matters into his own hand ripping a shot past Larder to get the Fire on the score board and keep it within one.
The second period saw the Chill turn up the heat on the Fire as the scored 3 unanswered goals. Cook grabbed his 2nd of the night from new guy Cameron “The Tower of” Power followed by Rylan Smith again from Power. Alex De Sousa closed out the scoring when Smith fed him a nice pass and he riffled it home. The Chill were up 5-1 after two.
The third period saw the Fire turn up the heat, after just recording 3 shots in the second period.
They had 9 shots and 9 decent chances but could not solve Larder. At the other end, Chill Captain Smith continued to have a stellar night when he posted up his 3rd of the night to close out his hat trick from another rookie, Warren Churchill who was making his HFHL on the back end. Top D man Alex De Sousa scored his second of the night single-handedly and Warren Churchill ended the scoring for this one of a feed from De Sousa.
This one ended up 8-1 in favour of the Chill. Worth while noting that despite the loss, rookie goalie Kevin Kennedy played a great game, but the Fire just could not solve the Chill’s back end. We caught up to some guy that was watching from the sidelines and asked what he thought of the game. “Chill looking pretty Chill out there baby. De Sousa loving all this room and taking control back there. Smith be flying and they look solid. Might be the team to beat.” We’ll see ….
Slayers vs Lynx
This game saw the Slayers led by Matt Strum facing off against the Lynx led by captain Rickie Miller. I think everyone knew these two teams could put it up on the score board…but no one expected this!
First period saw the scoring open when Rickie Miller popped his first of the season from Shane Erb. Shortly afterwards, Kane let a weak goal in off a shot from Strum given by his buddy Jeff Withers. Tied at one. That didn’t last long as Stu Whidden grabbed his first of the year on a pass from Andrew O’Keefe to get the lead back. But the Slayers answered back with two quick ones, the first from Sheamus MacDonald from Jeff Withers and the second from Trevor Thompson off a pass from Sean Fitzgerald. Stu Whidden then scored one all on his own to keep it tied at 3 after the first.
The second saw the Lynx breakdown defensively and the Slayers were all over that baby. Strum picked up his second of the night from Withers followed by Fitzgerald’s first of the season from Trevor Thompson. Strum grabbed his hat trick from Sheamus MacDonald and then Withers scored his first off a nice pass from veteran Matt Monk. Rob Tyrrell tried to stop the bleeding scoring his first of the year on a pass from Miller. But Strum answered scoring his 4th unassisted. The Lynx kept fighting and were rewarded when Andrew O’Keefe scored a nice goal bottom corner off a feed from Rickie Miller. But along came Strum recording his 5th of the night followed by Sean Fitzgerald with his second again from Thompson. The Slayers out scored the Lynx 7 - 2 in the period and took a commanding 10 - 5 lead into the third.
The third started much how it ended with Strum and Withers connecting with each other again scoring a goal and an assist each to keep things rolling. But Lynx Captain Miller was juggling lines last night and looks like he may have found a good fit, because these guys started to click rattling off four unanswered goals and league all time scoring leader Rob Tyrrell was in on all four grabbing two goals and two helpers. Andrew O’Keefe and Shane Erb got the other two and could we have a game going here? Well nope said Fitz as he grabbed his third of the night off a pass from Trevor Thompson. Tyrrell picked up his 4th of the night from Miller but Strum answered back with his 7th again from his buddy Jeff Withers. Slayers take it to the Lynx and win 14 - 10 with Matt Strum earning this weeks player of the week honours grabbing 7 goals and one assist in the victory. The Lynx were left with one burning question…where is Kane…because he never showed up tonight!
Last game of the night was a feisty affair between the Sabres and the Hackers. The Sabres, led by Kyle Bradbury were under the microscope because of some questionable drafting moves. The Hackers were set up with a crew that have played lots together and brought a bit of edge to the game. The first goal of the game went to the Hackers with Geoff Briggs grabbing his first from team captain Joe Murphy. But that lead was quickly erased by Kyle Bradbury from Alex Yeadon on a power play. Aaron Brown then gave the Sabres the lead when he slid a shot past Bob Strum from pass from Kyle Bradbury. Sabres up 2-1 after the first.
The second saw a barrage of penalties, three for the Hackers and two for the Sabres. This resulted in three power play goals, two by the Hackers when Joe Murphy capitalized on a pass from Dan Carver and Carver then scored his first of the year off a nice pass from Nick Briggs. But the Sabres answered back when Myles Raymond scored from Alex Yeadon.
All tied up after 2 at 3-3
The third period was back and forth and a lot cleaner? Kyle Bradbury opened the scoring in the third when he blasted a shot past Strum off a pass from Chris Inness. Joe Murphy answered back with his own unassisted tally keeping things tied. Alex Yeadon then gave the Sabres the lead when he scored off a pass from Ben MacDonald. Joe Murphy responded with his 3rd of the night from Wayne Hardy. But Yeadon scored another from Chang and Ben MacDonald closed the scoring out with his first of the year giving the Sabres a two goal lead and the Sabres won their home opener 7-5.
Worth while to note that Bob Strum faced 43 in this one and Jason Boudreau made some huge saves to give his team the chance to win.
So that’s how it looked from here folks.
Please remember, this is not the pros. This is not the league where we play so intense that we crash bodies and try to win at any cost. This is supposed to be fun first, competitive second and never so intense that we take the fun out of it for guys playing, reffing or running this league. We have a great bunch of guys here. A lot of new faces that have been very respectful of the spirit of the league. We have various skill levels and some really old guys too! Come have fun boys. Leave the hyped intensity level at the door. This league is not and has never been about that.
This is Billy Concarney saying so long and stay safe peeps!