Troy, MI - The Rocky Mountain Roughrider U16 AAA team headed to Troy, Michigan to play in the final regular season NAPHL Showcase. The Roughrider U16 team was fighting for a spot in the NAPHL Playoffs and had several different scenarios that could play out to gain that playoff spot. The most obvious scenario would be to win all 5 games to secure that spot, however, after losing the first game to the first place Omaha AAA team the rest of the weekend was basically a 'must win' situation.Friday:
The Roughriders dropped a close game to Omaha on Friday, January 14th. The Roughriders had a tough time getting traction against Omaha and have all season. For some unknown reason the Omaha matchup gives the Roughriders a rough time. Omaha got on the board first and carried the lead into the second period on a Jordan Boucher-Gould goal. Michael Buonincontri and Adam Durkee both netted goals in the second period to give the Roughriders a short-lived lead.
Late in the second period Omaha struck twice in a row themselves snatching the lead back at 13:56 of the second period. Omaha would score the final goal at 14:28 of the third period sealing a 4-2 victory.
The Roughriders opened the Showcase with a loss, however this only served to motivate the team to a higher level of performance.
Saturday:
Saturday, January 15, 2011 the Rocky Mountain Roughrider U16 AAA showed up to play the Indianpolis Jr. Ice. The Roughriders had won the previous two matchups with the Jr. Ice and Saturday was to be no different as the Roughriders won 6-3.
The first period began with the Jr. Ice striking first. Stephen Pack got the first goal of the game at 3:21 of the first period. The momentum swung back heavily for the Roughriders when Max Ross cranked in a shot from Thomas Jarman to knot the game at one goal a piece.
The second period was all Roughriders as Braiden Miller netted back to back goals to give the Roughriders the lead on passes from RJ Salvato and Lucas Blomquist. At 14:40 of the second period, Lucas Blomquist netted a goal of his own with assists going to Robert Valdez and Nathan Guymon securing a 4-1 lead.
The Roughriders finished off with two more goals, one each from George Gruber VII and RJ Salvato to finish out with a 6-3 win and improve to 1-1 in the Showcase.
Sunday:
The Roughriders faced two opponents on Sunday, luckily the game times were spaced pretty far apart to allow the team some time to rest between matches and secure two more victories. The battle for a playoff spot was heating up by Sunday morning as roughly 6 teams were all vying for a playoff spot.
First up on Sunday morning was the Pikes Peak Miners. The Roughriders have won all 4 prior meetings this season. The Miners were out for a victory and were playing hard. Yannick Crete opened up the scoring when he took and Adam Durkee pass in the high slot and beat Danny Kowalski on the short side for a 1-0 lead. The game was marked with physical play on both sides of the ice, however the Miners were called for 3 penalties in the first while the Roughriders only had 2.
Both teams battled hard during the second period. The ice make halfway through the second period as is common in NAPHL play, gave the Roughriders a 1-0 lead going into the locker room. The Roughriders came out after the ice make and scored a go-ahead goal at 15:40 in the second period. Michael Buonincontri snuck the puck in the net to expand the lead to 2-0.
The third period was perhaps one of the most well played and physical periods of hockey of the Showcase. The Miners closed the gap at 12:49 of the third when Alec Butcher began a short-lived rally for the Miners. The game came to an end with the Roughriders on top by a score of 2-1. There were some extra-curricular activities in the hand shake line and two Miners were assessed 2 minute minor penalties after the game.
...to be continued
No comments:
Post a Comment