From the start of the game, the Blue Fins appeared to have the game in control. They were moving themselves and the puck just a bit faster than the Puckers.

Mid-way into the first period, Vlad ‘The Impaler’ Potapoff scored the first goal, assisted by Rich ‘Hawkey’ Denisi.

The second period was all Blue Fins. The always-strong Blue Fins defense kept the quality scoring chances to a minimum. Like Tom Cruise in the movie – Cocktail, Dan ‘The Man’ Fahey served up a perfect mixture of hockey. On his side of the blue line – his icy demeanor chilled the Puckers’ attacks; outside of his zone he carried the puck like an inebriated floozie grips her pina colada.

Not selling the rest of the defense short (but I’m out of colorful adjectives) – Cookmeyer, Gyure, and ‘Chainsaw’ Lavin played equally as well and frustrated the Puckers with 60 solid minutes of play. On the very few times needed, the defense was there to scoop up the loose rebound and clear it from harm’s way.

Adam ‘The Shocker’ Hoover took a pass from Captain Mike McGee and skated directly at the Puckers goalie. He blasted it in for the Fins’ 2nd goal of the night.

The momentum of the game was just starting to turn Blue, until ‘Super’ Dave Berent took over. On a penalty kill – Berent relentlessly attacked the puck. He battled in the offensive zone and fought off 2 defenders. He dropped the puck back to John ‘The General’ Allman who scored shorthanded on a perfect wrist shot.

Now, the Blue Fins had everything going their way.

E.J. ‘The Sandman’ Darisse put on a clinic. Of the 28 Puckers shots on goal – Darisse got a piece of every single one. Darisse piled on to his record season by tallying yet another shut-out – for a league-leading total of 5!

Keith ‘The White Shadow’ Locker grabbed a pass from Fahey, and got just far enough ahead of the Puckers defense to manage one quick shot. It was all he needed and his shot found the back of the net to put the Blue Fins up by a four-goal margin.

The 3rd period was relatively quiet, as the Puckers had little fight left in them. In true Mike McGee form – the Captain got the last goal of the night thanks to nothing but hard work.

The Blue Fins win by a final score of 5-0.

Next week they play for the championship against arch rivals Chick-Fil-A. Chick-Fil-A appears to have figured out the Blue Fins as of late. In their last meeting, they beat Blue Fins relatively easy as they not only scored more goals, but they won the mental battle with a cheap, but smart, physical game. The Fins ‘lost-it’ long before time expired.

The Championship is Monday night at 8:30 pm.

The Weevils have two rather easy games left, while the Blue Fins play two formidable opponents.

The Mother Puckers have been steadily improving and are now a solid 0.500 team.

The Blue Fins were confident though, and in the first period were skating well and seemed to have things in control. However, when the Mother Puckers scored first, the Fins started to get nerved…..

The Blue Fins tied it up thanks to some hard work by ‘Super’ Dave Berent. Like a waiter passing a check, he wedged the puck through a crowd to Rusin who slid it under the goalie’s pads.

The second goal for the Blue Fins was a smart shot from John ‘Pinball Wizard’ Allman. Rich ‘Hawkey’ Denisi won the face-off to Vlad ‘The Impaler’ Potapoff who got it to Allman at the blue line. Allman sailed a high shot in on net that bounced off several Puckers on it’s way in.

At the end of the first period, it was 2-1 Blue Fins.

The second period was about puck control. The Puckers acted like frustrated Republicans as they tried to get past the ‘Congressional’ blue line of the Blue Fins. The Blue Fins defense democratically stopped them in their tracks. Gyure, McGee, Cookmeyer, Allman, and Fahey not only played a stingy game on defense – but they were able to navigate the referees’ exaggerated calls and stayed out of the box all night.

The offense, however, was not so lucky. They visited the sin-bin 6 times – and thanks to a 5-on-3 penalty kill – the Blue Fins gave up the only other goal early in the 3rd period.

But luckily in the second, they added to their lead.

Denisi skated the puck in, and had a 2-0 break with Potapoff. Denisi glided, paused, then took the shot – ricocheting it off the goalie’s pads.

Just seconds later, Berent and Hofmeister attacked the net. The puck bounced every-which-way and Berent chipped it over the goalie, bouncing it off the minder’s foot and into the net.

After 40 minutes – the Blue Fins were comfortably up by 4-1.

In the third, the Puckers cut the lead to a dangerous two goals on the 5-on-3 power play. Eric ‘Mad Dog’ Mussler got flagged for a very questionable interference call that all of Blue Fin’s ‘fans’ boo-hooed. (Well ok, there was only one fan… but she was real loud and sounded like fans – plural).

Responding to the skimpy two goal lead was Keith ‘White Shadow’ Locker. His first goal came after Wes ‘The Hammer’ Gyure’s perfect pass sprung Locker on a break-away. Locker blasted the puck 5-hole and it was too hot for the goalie.

Then, Potapoff put on a show. He danced his way in on net, and put the puck on Locker’s stick like a pat of butter on a dinner roll. Locker was on a roll and easily scored.

The Puckers had a final chance to score, when the skater that scored their first two goals had a beak-away chance for a hat trick. But as this season’s best goalie – E.J. ‘The Sandman’ Darisse made the save. Darisse played very well and occasionally took a leisurely, but nerve-wracking skate around his zone to play the puck.

The Blue Fins win 6-2 and maintain first place and their one point lead.

The final game is for first place – if the Blue Fins win, they will have gone wire to wire for the first time in team history. Their final season game is Monday 4/6/2009 at 8:45 against Chick-Fil-A.

http://www.pointstreak.com/players/players-team.html?teamid=173025&seasonid=3629

Hockey has great players, great coaches, and great stories. Every once in a while – this sport finds someone who scores a hat trick by falling into all three categories.

Kenny spent his early days not only learning the sport of tennis – but also as a young lad was taught how to ‘snare a cougar’ with his bare hands. For years ‘Tennis Kenny’ could be found in tight white shorts, powder blue wrist bands, and an eager smile.

But alas – bad luck strikes even society’s finest – and unfortunately Kenny was taken hostage and turned into a sex-kitten by a seedy Canadian business woman. She moved Kenny to Great Moose Droppings, Quebec and traded him amongst her very, very, very old tennis lady-friends. At night, Kenny was kept prisoner in an equipment cage with nothing but broken tennis supplies.

To amuse himself – he smacked around a crushed beer can with the end of a broken coat rack that looked like a crooked ‘L’. The game he was playing – hockey.

Eventually, one of the very, very, very old ladies left Kenny alone after a particularly involved ‘tennis lesson’. That was all he needed. Wearing nothing but a Gordie Howe helmet – with bare feet he scampered across the snow like ‘Scooby Doo’ runs away from a monster.

Kenny ran away and was taken in by hockey great Scottie Bowman who gave him food, shelter, and all the ice time he ever wanted.

Kenny eventually developed into a versatile hockey player, but never really achieved the greatness he desired until he moved to the unlikely hockey mecca of Raleigh, NC. After floundering around with sub-par teams at the Iceplex and the Reczone – he was landed by the Blue Fin’s Hockey organization and dubbed with the name ‘Scooby’.

As a player, he led his team not only in speed – but in emotion. You could almost see Scooby and his team flying ABOVE the ice when he was there. Eventually, Kenny followed the path taken by many hockey legends – Gretzky, Francis, etc. Kenny assumed the role of coach in a recent Blue Fins victory.

Kenny coached the Blue Fins with style, charisma, and class – taking his emotional boost to an all time high.

If Kenny ‘Scooby’ Glanville was just a player, he would have been called great. If coaching was his only undertaking, players and fans would call him amazing. If you published his life-story in a book – it would be a best-seller.

Put it all together and you have a legend.

The Blue Fins were still slumping at the beginning of the game – and Chick-Fil-A made minced meat of them early. They went up by a score of 2-0 after the Fins failed to challenge them in front of their own goal.

The Blue Fins apparently were still feeling the wounds from last week’s loss. Slowly but surely, the Blue Fins started to find their way.

It started with an onslaught of forechecking by the offensive line of Keith ‘White Shadow’ Locker, Vlad ‘The Impaler’ Potapoff, and Rich ‘Hawkey’ Denisi. They berated the Chick-Fil-A team in their own zone.

If only Custer had held like the Blue Fins defense covered the blue line – this made the offensive efforts even more effective.

John ‘The General’ Allman, Kevin ‘Chainsaw’ Lavin, Gene ‘Slow Broil’ Cookmeyer, and Wes ‘The Hammer’ Gyure worked hard to get to the loose pucks and open ice.

The next offensive line of Eric ‘The Muscle’ Mussler, Adam ‘Shocker’ Hoover, and Jeff ‘TBD’ Macfarland kept up the pressure and continued to turn the tide.

The second period ended without scoring – the Blue Fins were having real trouble finding the twines. In a rare battle of goalies, through 20 min EJ ‘The Sandman’ Darisse was actually losing to the Chick-Fil-Weeble-Wobble netminder. Darisse, however, was done fooling around and played the final two periods Stingy – yes, with a capital ‘S’.

Finally – Denisi got a loose puck deep in the zone, to the goalie’s right. Denisi only needed a glimpse of twines – and he got it. He ripped one over the goalie’s shoulder to put the Blue Fins back in the game (2-1).

The Fins kept shooting but continued to have difficulty scoring. Midway through the 3rd, Captain Mike McGee made his move. After catching a pass from Rusin, he bulldogged his way across the blue line – practically dragging two defenders with him. He protected the puck as long as he could – and as he got dragged to the ice – he gave the puck one last poke. His diving shot somehow found a hole and the Blue Fins tied the game.

A few questionable penalties forced the Blue Fins to skate short-handed for the last half of the 3rd period. The game ended in a tie – even after a hard fought 4-on-4 overtime.

The Blue Fins are almost out of their slumber and maybe in the horizon they can see their old selves. The fun continues next week when they play the Ale House at 8:45 pm.