RINK DAWGS!!!……You Knooow!!!

Happy B-Day Krupa from all the boys, hope it is a good one!!

From all the boys, we wish you a good one!

Cheers

June 22, 2009 – Game Recap

Toronto Phantoms – 5   Rink Dawgs – 0

Another very disappointing effort, on a night where we could have made a statement.  This season’s version of the Phantoms included the likes of, Rick Lee, Jerry Cowan, George Tserbis, etc, etc.  So going into the game we knew we would have our hands full, but we have proved in the past to play well against these guys.

I guess last night was the exception, we played a poor game.  From offense to defense, it just wasn’t there.  I am not going to go into detail on what happened specifically last night, but rather dwell on the comment Dave made after the game.

He was right in saying, “we need to find our identity as a team”.  No longer are the days where we can go out there and run teams into the ground and expect to capitalize on every scoring chance.  We need to develop a strong defensive game, where all forwards backcheck agressively and the defense moves the ball quickly up the wings.  All we need to do is chip the ball out and get it in deep so our forwards can get in there and forecheck.

So we have to realize that we are getting longer in the tooth and that we need to play a much smarter brand of hockey in order to be sucessful.  We are all going to make mistakes out there and we are going to feel frustrated at times, but we need to stick together and get everone on the same page.

It’s desperation time now boys, we have to put together a winning streak if we are going to make any kind of run in the playoffs.  Let’s play every game, every shift like it’s the 7th game of the Stanley Cup Finals and we’ll get the results we need.

Game Stats:

Shots: Toronto Phantoms  20  -  Rink Dawgs 11
Powerplay: 0 for 2
Penaltykill: 0 for 1

Player(s) of the Game:

Another game where the end result matched the effort

June 16, 2009 – Game Recap

Scarboro Stars – 3    Rink Dawgs – 2

You would have thought the game started poorly for us considering we had only 6 guys & the goalie ready to start the game.  To the contrary, even with a few guys running late and others not available we managed to get a jump on the Stars early.  At the 12:31 mark Frank Zucarro took the ball from deep in our defensive zone and burst up the wing, firing a shot on goal.  There was a nice rebound and Bruce was there to tap it in.

As more of the troops arrived for us and the closer we got to the midway point of the half, the more their speed seemed to take over.  It seemed like the entire first half we had trouble breaking out and even just clearing our zone.  They seem to have guys streaking down the middle all the time, exposing our poor defensive zone coverage.  They potted a goal at the 7:10 mark of the first and continued to pressure until they took the lead at 3:52.  With the idea of only trailing 2-1 going into half time, we let down our guard and they were able to score a third goal with only 10 seconds left in the first.

The shots were lopsided in the first half 13-4 in favor of the Stars and their relentless pressure and speed seemed to much to overcome.  We managed to out shoot them in the second 8-7, even with having to kill 4 minutes in penalties.  With the goalie pulled we were able to get one back when Andrew Lazaridis found David Silva in the slot with a nice pass and with good patience and great hands David roofed it top shelf where they keep the peanut butter.  With only 1:24 left to play, it proved to be not enough time for us to tie the game.

With only 2 lines, we simply ran out of gas and could not mount a steady offensive attack.  Stewart Tymchuk once again played a great game in net making ridiculous saves.  The bottom line is we need 3 lines minimum at every game, because as we all know we are not getting any younger and the competition is generally faster than we are.  So we cannot stress more the importance to call Bruce or myself well in advance if you think you are not going to make a game.  It is difficult to get extra guys out last minute as you may know.

Game Stats:

Shots: Scarboro Stars  20 -  Rink Dawgs  12
Powerplay: none
Penaltykill: 2 for 2

Player(s) of the Game:

Bruce Tiam Fook & David Silva with the goals and another strong performance by Stewart Tymchuk in net making 17 saves.

June 15, 2009 – Game Recap

Rink Dawgs – 5    Northern Devils – 2

Feels great to get our first win of the season, actually our first win in 16 games dating back to the 2008 winter season.  The game was a close affair, tied well into the second half.  The Devils (Formerly the Vikings) got on the board first at the 7:46 mark on a screened shot from the point, which found it’s way through traffic and knocked off of the inside of the post.  We were able to tie the game up with 2:22 to go in the first half when Steve Marchment blasted a shot from the high slot on a great feed from Bruce Tiam-Fook.

The second half was pretty much the same as the first, with both team trading some chances.  At the 12:01 mark of the second, Tommy Kolkas broke the tie when he took a pass from Donny Lagos and streaked down the left side and snapped one past the goalie low blocker side.   For the next 5 minutes we continued to have good scoring chances but we’re unsuccesful in putting one past their goalie.

The turning point could have been when a controversial no call on Antonio Geraci, helped the Devils tie the game.  On the play, Antonio was carrying the ball back trying to go around our net when he was shoved from behind and knocked to the ground.  This created a turn over deep in our zone and on the ensuing scramble they were able to pound one in from the slot through traffic again.  Following the goal, Antonio lost it on the official earning himself a 10 minute misconduct and shortly after that he received a game ejecting for referring to the referee as a “homosexual” actually he called him a “FAG”.  For his trouble he received a 1 game suspension and $10 fine, I swear this league must make a ton of dough from our fines alone.

Thankfully, those penalties were the only ones we took in the game.  I can’t remember the last time we didn’t have to kill a penaly for an entire game.  Like I said earlier this could have been the turning point against us, but we didn’t let that tieing goal deter us and we continued to press.  We managed to to score two goals 11 seconds apart by Andrew Lazaridis & Mark Krupa with only 2:11 to go in the game.

Considering how some of the previous games have gone so far this year, we we were not completely secure until we were to hear final buzzer.  The Devils pulled the goalie after the 2 goals and pressed hard for the final two minues.  Stewart had to make some timely saves once again to help us preserve our lead.  They then went on to take a penalty and with the goalie still pulled, Bruce iced it with a bank shot from deep in our zone.

Game Stats:

Shots: Rinkdawgs  -  19   Northern Devils – 15
Powerplay: 1 for 1
Penaltykill: none

Player(s) of the Game:
Donny Lagos  4A
Bruce Tiam-Fook  1G  1A

Steve Marchment, Tommy Kolkas,Mark Krupa & Andrew Lazaridis each with a goal
Mike Zuccaro, Tony Rowe & Ted Kolkas each with an assist.

Overall a well balanced attack, good goaltending and strong defensive play earned us the victory.

Due to scheduling conflicts between the Thornhill Vets  & Rink Dawgs and the fact that the Tier 3, 4 & Masters will be taking place on the same weekend, we will not be attedning the qualifier in London on the weekend of June 19-21.  Apologies to those who were looking forward to attending and to anyone who had to make arrangements with work & the wives.  Look at it this way, you will be home for Father’s day!

Unless there is a last chance qualifier at the end of the season, the playoffs will be the only way that we will be able to earn a spot at the provincials in August.  So the emphasis is on the regular season and we need to play our asses off the rest of the way and carry it through the playoffs.

#77

June 08, 2009 – Game Recap

Gunners – 5  Rink Dawgs – 1

The end result really wasn’t a good indication of how the game played out.  A four goal spread may seem like a dominating effort, but I don’t think we were outplayed that bad.  We entered the game short a few of our regulars particularly on Defence and it didn’t help us when Donny Lagos went down with a ankle injury, forcing us to once again drop Mark Krupa down on D.

It was a game of two different halves, the first going the Gunners way in both shots & goals and the second went more our way.  The Gunners jumped out to a 2-0 lead within the first five minutes of the game. They credited us with 7 shots but I truly doubt that we enough had more than 2 in the half.  They added another one late in the first, leaving us with a 3 goal deficit to try and overcome.

At the 12:05 mark of the second half, we finally got on the board.  It was a bit of a scrambled play, when David Silva found Bruce Tiam-Fook wide open at the side of the net.  Bruce reluctant to shot, fed it back across the front of the net where Tommy Kolkas was taking a beating and the ball found David Silva’s stick and he patiently put it in.  With the score now 3-1, we felt like we were back in the game.

We couldn’t seem to sustain any pressure in the offensive zone, allowing them way too much time on there breakouts.  They were able to put another one by Stewy making it 4-1 and then we got into some penalty trouble and they capitalized on a 5-3 powerplay to ice the game.

End result was that we dug ourselves to big a hole early in the game and with our struggling offense, we were not able to mount much of an attack.  Our breakout has been terrible all year so far, we are making poor decisions with our passes and there is not enough movement by our forwards.  We are 5 games into the season and we need to start bringing our best efforts forward to put ourselves in a position to make some noise in the playoffs.

Game Stats:

Shots: Gunners  17  -  Rink Dawgs 15
Powerplay: none
Penaltykill: 1 for 2

Player(s) of the game:
Again not much to show for our efforts but honorable mentions go to David Silva for scoring our only goal and to Antonio Geraci for playing a solid game on Defence.

June 01, 2009 – Game Recap

Rink Dawgs – 2 Xavier Outlaws – 2

Wouldn’t you know it another pretty even match, it is starting to sound a little redundent.  It was nice to collect our first point of the season with the tie, but surely we should locked away the 2 points.  I can’t remember the last time we carried a 2-0 lead heading into the late stages of a game, I guess we don’t have enough practice with that recently.

In the first half the stats were pretty much equal, besides the score.  Shots were 9-8 for the Outlaws, penalties were 4 minutes a piece, the difference was we were able to score on the powerplay.  David Silva netted his first goal of the season with 4:47 left to play in the first, lifting us to a 1-0 lead at the break.

The second half saw the game stats reversed, with us outshooting them 10-8 as well as out penalizing them 6-4, but they got the upper hand in goals 2-1.  Once again our penalty killing did very well for the game going 5 for 5, but on a 4 on 4 opportunity they had a fortunate bounce and a good hand eye  to bat one out of the air to get into the game.  Less than 2 minutes later they continued to pressure and were able to get the game tying goal.

Besides that 2 minute stretch I thought we controlled a good portion of the game, defensively we were good, Stewart played well in net again and our offensive was able to come up with a couple atleast.  So it is a start, like I said we’ll take the point and let’s continue to build on it next game.

Game Stats:

Shots: Rink Dawgs  18  -   Xavier Outlaws 17
Powerplay: 1 for 4
Penaltykill: 5 for 5

Player(s) of the Game:
Ted Kolkas   2A
David Silva  1G
Mike Zuccaro 1 G
Steve Marchment & Frank Zuccaro each with an assist.

Notable mention to the defence of Dan Smith, Antonio Geraci, Donny Lagos and Ted Kolkas for playing with only 4 D-men from early in the game.