Darisse Carries Blue Fins (6/2/08)
It has been said - that a goal is a goal, and a win is a win, no matter how pretty……..or not.
The Blue Fins Bistro Hockey team played their toughest competition so far - the Weevils. Player to player, the Fins are, or should be, better than the Weevils. But - the Fins played poorly. This game was practically 60 full minutes of bad passing and bad shots by the Blue Fins.
The exception to this rule was Fins keeper “Daring” E.J. Darisse. After one soft goal, E.J. melted down shot after shot from the Weevils.
The Weevils jumped out to a 2-0 lead which held for most of the first period. It took over 19 minutes, but John “I’m In” Probasco finally scored thanks to a good pass from Adam Hoover (or whoever else passed it - I certainly can’t remember). This halved the Weevils lead, and after the first period the score was 2-1.
For most of the next two periods, the ugliness continued - and the game got more physical. The Weevils may as well have had a pack of dogs - as they were on a fox hunt. Their target was Probasco. Verbally and physically, they were successful in baiting him into several discretions which took him off the ice and into the bin.
Captain Mike McGee intervened and tried to corral Probasco and the Fins. Although they weatered the storm of penalties, they still could not generate the offense needed to tie the score.
Then, with time waning in the 3rd period - the Fins had less than 2 minutes to light the lamp. Taking the face-off in their own zone, Rusin won the drop and sent the puck to Dave ‘Push the Grouper’ Berent. Berent held the puck, giving Probasco time to break up the ice. Berent rifled a perfect pass up the center to Probasco. Probasco out raced the Weevils and faked the goalie with two moves, and a quick flip of the puck.
The Fins tied the game and pushed the ever exciting conclusion to a shootout.
Steve ‘Loco’ Tsotsoros was first to go. He skated directly up the center, got the goalie sliding to his right, and then scored five-hole. Probasco was second, and despite a post-shot collision, he scored to tally his third goal for the game.
On the other side of the shootout, ‘Daring’ E.J. Darisse shut down the Weevils. After a stellar performance in regulation, he made the shootout look easy and stopped both Weevils attempts.
With their 3rd win in a row, the UNDEFEATED Blue Fins lead the league. Their next game is Monday, June 9 at 8:30 pm against Labatt’s.