We handled a pretty talented Lord Jeff squad with relative ease yesterday as the boys came out and put together their best team effort of the year. It was clear from the opening minutes that our group was ready to go. Matt Rayner, Charlie Schopp and Pete Smith all had ferocious hits in the 1st quarter that sent a message to Amherst but also to our team about the kind of intensity we were going to play with. We've been a pretty good ground ball team all year but took it to another level yesterday as guys were flying to the ball and coming up with it. We ended up winning that battle 55-35.
The game was back and forth early with both teams getting some good looks at the cage but both goalies were up to the test. Mike Stone finally broke the scoreless game up when he uncorked a lefty shot coming around from behind the cage on their best defenseman Chris Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick is a pretty good defenseman and had been pressing out on Mike to the end line as we were subbing; he also managed to get some nice whacks (slashes) in on Mike's shoulder and his free arm as he was protecting the ball. While Mike doesn't typically generate his offense from behind the cage I think this was just a statement to the kid that I'll go on you from anywhere on the field and beat you. We don't mind when Mike makes those kinds of statements.
The flood gates started to open up in the 2nd quarter as we won 7 or 9 face offs, took 21 shots and in general just didn't take our foot off the gas the entire quarter. We opened up with a few 6v6 goals from Stone and David Hild. Then Dave Campbell picked up the ground ball after his face off win and raced in for another score. Dave has not only done a great job facing off for us this year but has also put a ton of pressure on the defense once he comes up with the ball. Our next goal came off of a ride where we found Chris Teves in transition and he roofed a lefty shot in the upper corner. Finally David Hild was matched up with a short stick off of a loose ball and immediately took advantage of the mismatch.
Besides being physical all day, the story on defense was the play of Pete Britt in goal. He had those big saves early but also stole a few as the game went on that allowed us to ride the momentum and put some big runs together. I'm hoping it's not a coincidence that Pete stepped up his game around this time last year as well.
While we held them to one man up goal on 5 attempts in the first half (1 for 8 on the game), we finally had a few man up opportunities in the 3rd quarter. We converted on both and made our simple check off looks for both goals. When our man up unit keeps things simple and just moves the ball quickly, we're pretty hard to stop.
The rest of our goals in the 2nd half came off of loose balls and in transition which are two things we work on all the time but haven't created as much lately. It was nice to see us finish off some of those plays.
Finally, it was a great feeling to be up by 10 in the 4th quarter so that we could empty the entire bench. Before we had subbed everyone out, we had put Senior attackman Flint Reilly in the game with about 8 minutes to play. Flint has been lighting it up in practice the past few weeks and when he got his opportunity yesterday, he cashed in on it. To see him score his first career goal and his teammates go crazy was a great moment for the team. We also were able to get Bill Zrike in the game with about 5 minutes left. Bill is a senior goalie who walked on to the team his sophomore year. He had tried out as a middie his freshman year and was cut (way to go Erin). He knew we needed a 3rd goalie the following year and offered to pick it up to help the team out. Ever since he's been the ultimate TEAM guy for us and it was equally enjoyable to see him stuff a few Amherst players on his way to 3 saves and the game ball from his teammates.
On the surface this looked like a good whooping but I think some of the things that went on out on the field yesterday could have a very positive effect on this team. As we always say this time of year, we're just excited to be spending one more week together.
Next up, the Wesleyan Cardinals on Saturday at noon. I think the guys will be up for that one as well.