Blue Fins Fight to the Finish (1/16/08)
The Blue Fins came into their second game of the season riding high as this, to date, was clearly the best season in team history.
Their opponent ‘Off in the Showers’ was a recently converted B/C level team that moved down looking for quick and easy success.
’Showers’ established an early two-goal lead against Joe ‘Clinically Insane’ Durant, but the theme for Durant and the Blue Fins was hard work and comebacks.
Rusin dug the puck out from behind the cage and passed it to Mike ‘Scoring Machine’ Hofmeister. Dave ‘Godfather’ Berent and Hof out-muscled a ‘Showers’ defender and Hof careened a hard shot off the goalies’ skates to put the Blue Fins back in the game.
The ‘Showers’ increased their lead again, thanks in part to a small mental lapse on the Blue Fins and with a three goal lead - hoped to put the game out of reach.
Hof passed the puck to Rusin who was camped in front of the ‘Showers’ cage. Like stuffing meat into a calzone, Rusin tucked the puck in behind the ‘Showers’ net-minder. The Blue Fins shaved a goal off the lead to bring the score to 4-2.
Chunks kept the momentum going on a mini-break followed by a great shot that cleanly found the back of the twines.
With only a one goal deficit, Crazy Joe Durant picked up his game as well. Several snap-glove saves, and fast scrambling kept the biscuit out of his cage after relentless attacks by the fast ‘Showers’ attackers.
The game see-sawed a bit and after a goal by the Showers - Wes ‘Calves’ Gyure followed the charge and hard shot from Chunks. The rebound popped straight back, and Gyure nailed the loose puck in to restore the one-goal game (5-4).
With time waning, the Showers crowded the net and got a lucky tip to get a 2 goal lead. The feisty Chunks stormed back up the ice and blasted a shot through traffic and cut the game to 1 goal.
But with just minutes left, Rich Kessler got flagged for retaliating against an un-seen hook and the Blue Fins were now down by a goal and a skater.
But with the Blue Fins defense playing strong, their confidence did not waver. Matt ‘Mites’ Pusateri, Wayne Roan, and Dan ‘The Man’ Fahey skated hard all game and at the end they had just enough gas left in the tank.
With the Fins defense controlling their zone, Mike Hofmeister poked the puck loose and it squirted down the left boards. He out-hustled the Showers defender and got to the puck first. From the cheap seats, he backhanded the puck through the defender and more importantly through the goalie’s legs. This shorthander tied the game with less than 2 minutes in the 3rd.
The Blue Fins strong defense killed off the rest of the penalty and the regulation ended in a tie.
Unfortunately, the Showers outscored the Fins in the shootout - 2 goals to 0 on the first 3 shooters.
The Blue Fins fell just short of an amazing comeback - but managed to salvage 1 point out of the OT-SO-loss. It was a hard fought, hard played game by every Fin. They played extremely well against the former B/C team.