Tale Of Two Halves

In our first game against Hanford the defense allowed zero shots on goal. In the rematch last night they had nine, in the first half, three of which hit the crossbar. It seemed we couldn't do anything right except get lucky and watch Brandon Hale make six wonderful saves. At halftime a simple question was asked "do you want to be in first place or not?' The boys responded well, showing that yes indeed they do want to stay on top of the league table. We controlled the ball for most of the second half and had some wonderful chances including Corey Grady's potential game winner that was cleared off the line. Hale made five additional saves and played his best game of the season. Coach Elfering said "for the first time this season Brandon took control of the box and really owned it." Also Jared Brisbin once again drew the daunting task of man marking the best player in the league Dino Ramic. The sophomore proved he was the man for the job limiting Ramic to two shots on goal and limited his play making ability.

In the shootout Brandon was reading the shots right, but they were all on target until he blocked the seventh shot he saw. That set up John Zoulek, who only played five minutes due to an injury to come in cold and bury the game winner.

The game was important to maintain sole ownership of first place and set up another huge game against rival Kamiakin tomorrow at 7:00 pm. It will be important to have as many fans as possible at this game. We have the chance to sweep our rival and be clear of the other teams by two games.

Around the league: West Valley won their first match of the year against Sunnyside that dropped the Grizzlies two games out of first.

JV Note: The Junior Varsity squad improved to 5-2 in league with a 7-0 win over Hanford. They dominated every aspect of the game which was highlighted by Zack Patten's hat trick and Connor Craven's two goals.
JV's two league losses were both 0-0 matches that went to shootouts.
In the last three games they've outscored opponents 12-1.
For the season they've outscored opponents 21-10 and are 5-4 overall.