Moondawgs 3 - Tinkerhawks 4

Moondawgs show some bite, but still fall short:
Written by Nick Fleehart




Sunday , the Moondawgs prepared for their 3rd game of the season against the Tinker Hawks. This matchup was up North at Artic Edge Ice Arena, game time was set for 3:30 pm.  The previous week saw the Moondawgs blown out by the D3 team in D4 teams clothing, the Tripods. The 'Dawgs took the week and prepared using a stick&puck session on Wed and some private ice on Friday night. They worked primarily on skating and passing as they seem to be the biggest obstacles of many standing in the way of that elusive first victory. The work the 'Dawgs have been putting in finally decided to show its face in the from of a competitive game against the Tinker Hawks Sunday. 


The Lines looked like this:
Dave-Mike-Chris
Nick-Evan-Luke
Sean-Baker-Kyle


Gail-Justin
Jon-Kyle
Evan-Gail


The game started out with a bang for the Moondawgs as the did something they have not done yet in regulation. The 'Dawgs opened the scoring and on only the 2nd shift of the game.  Nick stripped the puck from a Hawk's defender and tied up the opposing players stick to allow Luke to take possession of the puck.  Luke shoveled the puck toward the right hand boards where Kyle picked up the puck. Kyle wound up and unleashed one of his sizzling slap shots . The shot didn't even give the goalie time to react and put the ' Dawgs up 1-0 @ 3:52  in the 1st.  The 'dawgs built the lead as the teams leading scorer, Evan, took a pass in the middle of his defensive zone and headed up the ice on a break away. A beautiful deke and a backhand laser later the 'Dawgs were up 2-0.  The Period ended with a 2-1 lead for the 'Dawgs.


The 2nd period was played well by both sides and the Tinker hawks put up 2 goals to take the lead into the 3rd period. 

The 3rd period started out 3-2 in favor of the 'hawks. The hawks scored early to put the 'dawgs down 2 goals and gave them a  large hill to climb if they wanted to tie the game up. Both sides played great defensive hockey for almost the rest of the game. With 4 minutes left in the 3rd there was a scrum in front of the hawks goalie. Sean put a shot on goal and the rebound came out to Evan. Evan knocked home the rebound to score his 4th goal of the season and bring his team to within 1. The last 4 minutes of the game seemed to be all 'Dawgs as they put as many shots on goal in those 4 minutes as they did in the previous Sunday's game. Although they owned the last 4 minutes the couldn't net a goal to tie it up. 


The 'dawgs fought back but fell short 4 - 3.  They played a lot better than the previous game and showed immense improvement. If they continue to improve the 1st win shouldn't be too far off! There were many standouts in the game other than the goal scorers. Most of the guys played great hockey and stayed in their positions. Mike La Torre became a defensive dynamo by laying out an blocking like 6 shots.  The passing looked crisper and we played in the other teams zone a lot more than we had in previous games. Its starting to feel a lil bit like hockey. 


Good Job boys!