RINK DAWGS!!!……You Knooow!!!

Even though you technically are suppose to celebrate your birthday in a leap year, the Dawgs would like to wish you all the best anyway.

Cheers!!

Captain Bruce Tiam-Fook, is in Europe and then Africa working on sponsorship deals for the team.  He says, “Congrats on the win boys and good luck next week!!”.

February 23, 2010 – Game Recap

Rink Dawgs – 6  Generals – 3

The Rink Dawgs came out fast and furious to start the game and showed no signs of letting up.  They opened the scoring at the 12:33 mark of the period with some pretty passing from Ted Kolkas and Antonio Geraci, who sent in Jamie Farrow on a breakaway and made no mistake.  The Generals were able to capitalize on a 4 minute powerplay, when Martin Vieira accidentally clipped one of their players in the face.  The Dawgs had managed to kill 3 1/2 minutes of the penalty, but with some tired bodies out there the Generals finally put one passed Eddie Mirzadeh.

Feeling good about their efforts on the long penalty kill, the Dawgs responded very well just 2 minutes later.  When on some aggressive forechecking by Jamie Farrow & Carm Diluciano, they were able to set up Mark Krupa for a one-timer giving Mark his first goal of the season.  Shortly after that goal, Donny “Kaberle” Lagos got into the action with a soft finish on a nice pass by Joe Lucas.  At the end of the first the shots were 9-5 in favor of the Generals, showing the Rink Dawgs shooting efficiency (3G on 5 shots) and excellent goaltending by Eddie (8 saves).

Carrying that momentum into the second period, the Dawgs came out fast again (just 21 seconds into it). Once again it was Jamie Farrow getting on the score sheet after receiving a nice pass from behind the net by Joe, Jamie got just enough composite on the ball to barely squeeze it through the goalie’s five hole.  At the 10:00 minute mark, it was Ted Kolkas’ turn to join in on the scoring.  On a good play at the point by Navin Persaud to keep the play in the offensive zone, the ball found Donny who in turn laid a perfect pass to Ted in the slot where he ripped a wrist shot high glove side. Just 31 seconds after that, new addition Todd Lindstrom scores in his first goal in his first career game as a Rink Dawg.

Needless to say with a 6-1 lead going into the final period, the Rink Dawgs felt very comfortably with their lead. After an early powerplay goal by the Generals, they could not muster up enough offense until late in the game.  Where on another powerplay (the 3rd penalty in the final 2 1/2 minutes), this one giving them a 5 on 3 advantage, the generals scored their third and final goal of the game.

All in all the Rink Dawgs have to be happy with their effort, they managed to score more goals than their previous 3 games combined and they continue to lead the league in giving up the least goals against (just 10 in 5 games).  They still need to find a way to stay out of the penalty box and improve on their penalty killing.

Game Stats:

Shots: Generals  24 – Rink Dawgs  16
Powerplay: 0 for 2
Penaltykill: 2 for 5

Player(s) of the Game:

Jamie Farrow  2G  2A 4PIM
Ted Kolkas  1G  2A
Donny Lagos, Joe Lucas & Carm DiLuciano each with 2 points.
Eddie Mirzadeh  21 saves

Great all around effort by the whole team, considering they were short 4 men.

February 17, 2010 – Game Recap

Rink Dawgs – 1   Dirty Shwas – 1

For the fourth consecutive game in a row, the shot total for the Rink Dawgs have been on the decline.  It didn’t help that they had to kill 4 straight penalties within a 10 minute span of that opening frame.  With some great goaltending by Eddie Mirzadeh and some desperate penaltykilling, the Dawgs were able to go perfect on the PK in the first.  Despite all that time in the box, the Rink Dawgs were able to get the first and only goal of the period.

At the 3:32 mark of that opening period and on one of only a few 5 on 5 opportunities, the Rink Dawgs capitalized.  With some good pressure in the Shwas zone, Andrew Lazaridis found David Silva at the point and with a big wind up, David managed to nail one off of Bruce Tiam-Fook’s ass which redirected into the goal.  It was a tough way to get his first of the season, but I am sure Bruce will take it.

It certainly wasn’t the first time he has been hit by a point shot, but one of the few times something good came out of it.  Sometimes you need to get ugly goals to get into or even win hockey games.  It seems like so far this season though, the Rink Dawgs are trying to hard to make the perfect pass or pretty play.  That need to get back to the basics, putting shots on goal and getting bodies in front of the net.

The 1-0 lead lasted until late in the second period, where with only 0:24 left on the clock and on yet another powerplay, the Dirty Shwas finally put one passed Eddie.  The onslaught of shots continued in the 3rd period and Eddie had to make save after save.  In the final 2 periods the shots were 29-11 in favor of the Shwas, needless to say the Dawgs were fortunate to escape with a point.

Game Stats:

Shots: Dirty Shwas  36 -  Rink Dawgs 16
Powerplay: 0 for 2
Penaltykill: 5 for 6

Player(s) of the Game:

Eddie Mirzadeh  35 saves
Bruce Tiam-Fook  1G
David Silva & Andrew Lazaridis each with an assist.

Notable mention goes to Carm DiLuciano who won most of his face-offs and linemate Ted Kolkas along with the rest of the PK unit who did a great job all night.

February 09, 2010 – Game Recap

Venom -3   Rink Dawgs – 2

Once again the Rink Dawgs came out with lots of energy and constant pressure to start the game.  It has been a trend this year so far, where the Dawgs outshoot & outchance their opponents in the first period.  Last night was no exception with the shots 11-4 in favor of the Dawgs and scoring chances at least 8-2, but once again they were only able to muster up 1 goal.  The goal came at the 10:38 mark of the period, when after some hard work from the re-united “E” line.  Antonio Geraci sent the ball up to the point where Bill “Big Red” Stewart let go a prefect shot that was tipped by Jamie Farrow for his 1st tally of the season.

Early in the second frame the “E” line was at it again, with some aggressive forchecking that earned them a face-off  deep in the offensive zone.   On the draw, Centreman Tommy Kolkas pulled it straight back to Antonio Geraci who made no mistake ripping one top shelf blocker side.  The goal gave the Rink Dawgs a 2-0 lead and what looked like a stranglehold on the game.

At the 4:48 mark of the 2nd, Ted Kolkas was called for a questionable interference penalty.  Thus giving the Venom a chance to cut into the lead and they capitalized with just 29 seconds left in the penalty.  That seemed to boost the Venom and they carried the momentum into third.

The final period did not start well for the Dawgs as the Venom scored an odd goal just 26 seconds into it.  On what seemed to be a chance for an odd man rush, Seb Geraci from the Rink Dawgs just missed Carm DiLuciano with a pass that would have sprung a 2 on 1, but instead the Venom turned right around and streaking down the right side #22 was able to poke it by a diving Nick Turcaloro into net.

That goal took the wind out of the sails for the Dawgs and for the rest of the game it seemed like they could not create good scoring chances.  In fact for the first time this season, the Dawgs were outshot in a period 7-5.  It didn’t help that Martin Vieira took a penalty at the 7:58 mark and out of frustration Carm DiLuciano riffled the ball  into the corner and was given an unsportsmanlike penalty.  The Rink Dawgs killed the 5 on 3 powerplay, but may have exhausted their energy doing so.  With only 3:44 to go in the game #29 of the Venom Brandon Lyons was left all alone at the side of the goal and with Nick having no chance, he made no mistake giving the Venom the lead.

The Dawgs pulled the goalie with just under 2 minutes to play but really could not generate anything, thus losing their first game of the season 3-2.  It seems like when the Rink Dawgs have their foot on the throat of their opponent, they let up just a bit.  In preparation for the summer season they will need to develop that killer instinct and put teams away.

Game Stats:

Shots: Rink Dawgs  28  -  Venom  18
Powerplay: 0 for 3
Penaltykill: 3 for 4

Player(s) of the Game:

Antonio Geraci  1G  1A
Jamie Farrow  1G
Tommy Kolkas and Bill Stewart each with an assist.

Special mention to Mark Krupa & Ted Kolkas who forechecked very well all game.

Click here to check out the pics

February 04, 2010 – Game Recap

Rink Dawgs – 2   Team Sleazy – 2

Game# 2 of season, played out a little as expected.  Both teams came out a bit sluggish, their passes were not crisp, shots missed the net and not a lot of good scoring chances.  The first period ended with no scoring and the shots were only 8-5 in favor of the Rink Dawgs.

The second period was a much better frame than the first, with both goalies seeing more action.  Nick Turcaloro of the Rink Dawgs had to make the more difficult saves than his counterpart, having to deal with lots of traffic in front of his net and lots of shots in tight.  Without his stellar goaltending, Team Sleazy could have easily taken control of the game.

At the 11:00 minute mark of the second the Rink Dawgs were given a powerplay opportunity and they made good on it.  After getting ball control in their zone, Tony Rowe and Carm DiLuciano worked the right side boards perfectly. As result Ted Kolkas cashed in on a great feed from Tony to open the scoring at the 9:31 mark of the period.

The Dawgs continued to press and at 7:24 were rewarded again.  With some aggressive forechecking the line of Tom Kolkas, Bruce Tiam-Fook & Carm DiLuciano were able to pin Team Sleazy in their own zone. Tom passed it around behind the net to Bruce how in turn fed a beautiful soft pass to Carm for the Iafrate like one-timer.  Team Sleazy were able to get one before the end of the second to make it 2-1 going into the intermission.

In the final period, the teams continued to trade chances and increase their shot totals.  The Dawgs were not able to put one past the netminder, despite of the many scoring chances right from the slot area.  They were also not able to capitalize on a powerplay chance, were as Team Sleazy did.  With just over 4 minutes to play, Bill Stewart was called for a questionable tripping penalty.  The Dawgs found themselves scrambling around in their zone and not able to clear the ball with a number chances to do so, ultimately leading to the game tying powerplay goal.

All in all it was an entertaining game and probably ended was it should have, in a tie.  I am sure though if you asked each team, they would tell you they were deserving of the win.

Game Stats:

Shots: Rink Dawgs  31 – Team Sleazy 26
Powerplay: 1 for 2
Penaltykill: 1 for 2

Player(s) of the Game:

Nick Turcaloro  24 saves
Carm DiLuciano  1G 1 A
Ted Kolkas 1 PPG

Bruce Tiam-Fook, Tony Rowe and Tom Kolkas each with an assist.