Silver and Goals tournament results – day one

Here are the day 1 results from the Dr. Pepper Star Center ‘Silver and Goals’ tournament
(both I-League and D-League)

I-League

The Shockers couldn’t get goaltender Topher McPherson to the rink for the first period, providing the Blue Devils an opportunity to get ahead and stay ahead. Empty-netters came in from Scott Speelman (unassisted), Jamil Jabri and Dallas Lehr (unassisted).  The 2nd period still belonged the B.D.’s who employed the skills of Rich Wajcio for the only goal of this period.  The Shockers simply couldn’t recover their game after this, and McPherson let in another 3 from Tom Hamitchek (ppg, unassisted), Tim Marra and another from Jabri.  Shockers Joe King slipped in a tally with under 2 minutes left in the game, but it counted for little in this lopsided game, and Brian Hamstra finished off the Shockers. Both Dallas Lehr and Nick McMacken of the Shockers were eventually ejected from the game late late late due to some unsportsmanlike misconduct.

The Lucky Strikes find themselves in a not-so-lucky position vs. the Spiders in their opening round of the tournament.  After a full period of skating back-and-forth, both teams come in for some goal scoring in the 2nd; Lucky Strikes Shawn Plemons (unassisted) and Spiders Christine Ratliff.  The 3rd period proved to be the unlucky period as Shawn Haley of the Spiders ended the game.

The Blue Devil’s well oiled scoring machine continued its relentless march towards the championship 1st Seed with 6 goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods: Aaron Hawley (unassisted), Jamil Jabri, Hawley again, Brian Hamstra (unassisted), Dallas Lehr and Charlie Heine.  The Lucky Strikes put out their cigarettes late in the 3rd to put one past Blue Devil goalie Ronnie Beckwith.

The Spiders follow up with recent 2-1 win with more of the same as Linda Mason and Roger Gray score early in the 1st period.  After a nap in the 2nd, both teams score; 1 from Spider Tim Thompson (unassisted) and 1 from Shocker John Washington.  The Shockers lick their wounds and reconsider the wisdom of having 4 full lines of forwards.  Perhaps a lean-mean-team would be preferable?

I think regardless of the upcoming Monday games, the championships will be played vs. the Blue Devils who have a blistering 14 goals for and even more impressive 2 goals against (and 26 minutes in penalties). 9 of the top 10 point makers in the tournament have been Blue Devils – [standings]

D-League

The Dallas Lady Stars focus on the Billy Goats weakness in their netminder with a goal by Melissa Munn (unassisted), but completely ignored the Billy Goats strength: goal scoring. The ‘Goats get 8 goals in a row through the 1st and 2nd period from Brett Gillaspie, Wes Eaten (2x), Aaron Nelson (ppg), Eric Palmer, Chris Acker, Ryan Rippy (unassisted) and Matt Quinn.  Melissa Munn isn’t finished however and puts another in before ‘Goat Lisa Rieck and Quinn hand the ‘Lady Stars their first loss of the tournament. The ‘Goats put up 41 shots on net and the Dallas Lady Stars only 10.

The short-benched Happy Holydays (aka team Sirkis) faced the Lone Star Imports in their first game of the tournament. LSI started out this low scoring event with a goal late in the 1st by Cody Patten. The best action of the game happened mid-2nd period when old-man Bob Sirkis stepped-up between whistles on LSI netminder Dan Pitman to protest the net coming off its moorings. Dan reacted to the invasion of his crease with a quick little face-shove, toppling over the irate Sirkis and drawing an LSI penalty. It would be the 3rd period before LSI could get another goal from Alex Bilozertchev. The Holiday team pulled out all of the stops to put up more penalty minutes than shots-on-goal with 32, including Bobby Sirkis getting ejected for an unsportsmanlike…. But they did get one past LSI goalie Dan Pitman; the tally coming from former Lone Star Import Tony Nigro (ppg) assisted by Mike Drago.

The Dallas Lady Stars and team Sirkis reboot to try and pick up wins yet in the first day of tournament play. The ‘Ladies powerplay squad can’t make it happen in the first period and even give up a shorthanded goal for each 1st period penalties the brutally physical Happy Holydays provide.  Mike Drago (shorthanded, unassisted), Tony Nigro (shorthanded), Tom Candalino (unassisted), Garth Derry (shorthanded, unassisted) and Bobby Sirkis all score in the first.  The ‘Ladies find their shooting lanes and get on the board with help from Melissa Munn (unassisted) and Whitney Freeman. Josh Gaarz picks up two unassisted goals for H.H. and then Lynn Kawano gets one back for the ‘Lady Stars. During the 2nd period, Paul Greenwod of team Sirkis beats up on some girls and gets a 12 minutes for checking from behind; come on dude, just ask the girl for her number, don’t put your stick through her number… The 3rd period has more of the same with another unassisted goal by Drago. The ‘Ladies finally solve the power play problem and answer with a PPG by Kawano.  Gaarz picks up the hat trick in the 3rd with 3rd unassisted goal.

The two final undefeated teams end the first day of play facing one another in a very physical game. Early on, it appeared this would be another low scoring event for the ‘Imports who picked up the first goal in the 1st from Gabe Rivera; 5 separate powerplays happened in the 1st, but were killed off by both teams. The 2nd period erased the possibility of any shut-outs as 11 goals were scored between the two teams. LSI got 2 from Cody Patten (unassisted) and JT Macha.  The ‘Goats came back with 2 by Chris Acker (unassisted) and Matt Quinn (ppg). Then it was LSI from Alex Bilozertchev, Billy Goats from Ryan Rippy, LSI goals from Chris Gallagher, Robert Burns (unassisted) and Will Hinton.  Rippy would get another for the ‘Goats and Rivera would get his 2nd to end the 2nd period. The pattern of scoring was set and wouldn’t change much in the 3rd as Billy Goat Quinn (unassisted) and Brett Gillaspie would match LSI goals by Patten and Macha. The Billy Goats need to fix their problem in net and spread out their goal scorers; each of the players in their top line have a 2.5 goals per game average.

LSI remains the only undefeated team in the tournament division, so expect to see them in the finals on Tuesday. – [standings]