Last week the Blue Fins ended their season with a loss in the first round of the play-offs. (sorry, no report) It was a tough loss in a shootout.
This week, they played 5-Hole Sports as a consolation game. The attendance differential was no consolation to the Blue Fins, who dressed 7 skaters to 14 for 5-Hole.
What was – and always is – a consolation for the Fins is netminder E.J. ‘The Sandman’ Darisse. The Sandman played brilliantly. He faced a lot of shots and kept his team in the game. You could see the lift it gave his team every time he made a great save. Strengths by Darisse were his trade-mark poke checks and puck sweeps….not to be out done by his ability to pass the puck out of his own zone.
The other reason the Blue Fins were in this game was their defense. Dan ‘The Man’ Fahey not only locked his wife out of his house, but he locked 5-Hole out of his zone. Gene ‘Steady’ Cookmeyer was a calming force – he controlled the puck, slowed the play down, and gave his team the time needed to move the puck up the ice. Matt ‘Blades of Steel’ Pusateri certainly played good defense – but also was able to light the lamp.
Pusateri’s first goal was an uncharacteristic fore-hand shot that caught the goalie by surprise on an unassisted break-away. His second goal came in the third period to give the Blue Fins the lead.
Earlier, the first goal of the night was scored by Rich ‘Hawkey’ Denisi. Denisi had a 2-0 breakaway with Rusin on his right. Denisi went left, stutter stepped and slowed the puck a bit which froze the goalie. He then pulled the puck past the goalie and scored thanks to a picture-perfect deke.
In the 2nd period, Keith ‘White Shadow’ Locker chased a bouncing pass from Rusin and outraced everyone to the net. He blasted it and the keeper never had a chance.
Two 3rd period goals by 5-Hole sports gave them back the lead, and the Blue Fins could not get the tying score.
The Blue Fins finish another season without their ultimate goal of a championship. Captain Mike McGee has already begun the process of re-signing his players with the hope that the team chemistry will continue to grow and subsequently translate into more victories – and most importantly – more fun.