Coffman Rocks 6   Sycamore Aves 2

Game Summary - Dublin Coffman vs. Sycamore, Sunday, December 16,2007 - Dublin Chiller

 

                                                                                                                                                            photo by Carol Anderson

1st Period
The Dublin Coffman Shamrocks hockey club headed into the Adam Allgeyer championship game with a repeat of last years game in mind, win another Allgeyer. The Rocks up against the Sycamore Aves came out flying in the 1st and the very first shift of the game set a tone that would be hard to overcome for the Aves. Anthony Rogers, Chris Ridgway and Sam O'Brien flew out of the gates and created 3 early point blank shots on Aves net minder, James Graves, Graves had shown all weekend he would be tough to beat and he did not disappoint making several huge saves early on to keep the Rocks off the scoreboard. Rocks pressure on the Aves led to a penalty halfway thru the 1st and as has happened many times this season the PK unit creates chances if they steal the puck. Chris Ridgway picks off a pass at the left circle in the Rocks zone, Rogers sees the chance to bolt thru the Aves defense and Ridgway hits Rogers on the fly, Rogers in alone on Graves goes to his backhand on the deke and roofs the puck, 1-0 Rocks shorthanded. Unfortunately the Rocks were still down a man and Aves star forward, Dan Dukart, carries the puck over the blue line and wrists a shot that just sneaks thru on Alex Rogers and the Aves tie the game on the power play 1-1. The Aves look for a 2nd goal after Dukart takes another shot and celebrates, but the referee standing near the goal line waves off the potential goal as his indication was the puck did not cross the line. The rest of the period the Rocks take over the flow of the game with Graves standing on his head managing to keep a determined team off the scoreboard, 1-1. Rocks out shot the Aviators in the first period 11-5.

2nd Period
The Rocks smell control of their destiny in this one and unleash a barrage of shots in the first 3 minutes of the 2nd, Jimmy Wall gets a pass from Rogers at the point and Wall drills a low shot that caroms off of Graves pad right to Chris Ridgway who deposits the puck in the empty twine, 2-1 Rocks. One minute later Wall sends a pin point pass to Rogers who tips the puck up ice to Sam O'Brien, the crafty left winger bares down on Graves and sends a rising wrist shot up over Graves shoulder, 3-1 Rocks. Rocks are now beating the Aves to every loose puck and Tyler Anderson shows some of the Rocks speed busting straight up the right side of the ice, Anderson stops short, just at the face off dot, spins and feeds Ryan Cohagen in the slot, Cohagen one times a low shot to the left corner of the net and the Rocks are rolling, 4-1. With time running out in the period the Aves let up briefly in the neutral zone, Ridgeway steals another errant pass and feeds Anthony Rogers in front, Rogers blasts a shot, for his 2nd of the game, past Graves with 15 seconds left, 5-1 Rocks. Rocks out shot the Aviators 18-8.

3rd Period
The final frame was all Rocks for the first half, with 8:44 left Cohagen, steals a puck from an Aves d-man in the Aves zone, feeds Anderson in the corner to the left of Graves, spins and sends a hard pass in front that hits a skate right to Jonathon Priest, Priest who has improved his physical play of late out muscles the d-man and pokes the puck past Graves, 6-1 Rocks. With the game out of reach the game gets a little nasty, but the Rocks have big defenseman who decide to dish a little hit or two back, Gregory Strine was moved back to the blue line, filling in for the injured Evan Bowdy, Strine playing up front most nights shows he is ready on the backend as an Aves forward learns the hard way to keep the head on a swivel, Strine crushes the forward in the side boards and the game settles down. With the game out of reach the Rocks play a dump the puck deep into the Aves end to protect the victory, while controlling any chances to get shots Aves defenseman, Andy Graves, sends a high slap shot from the blue line, Rogers completely screened in front doesn't see or move and before anyone knew the puck was in and out, Rocks led 6-2.  The Aves mount several shots after that but the Coffman Rocks skated to a 2nd straight championship final, 6-2. Rocks out shoot the Aviators 12-10 in the 3rd and 41-23 overall.

Rocks Highlights:
Definitely one of the teams better efforts of late, total puck control, passing and unselfish hockey had the Rocks flying today. A well deserved championship as all the Rocks contributed with a high level of play. The Rocks see action one more time prior to the Christmas Break, Friday evening against the Fremont Little Giants of the Northwest Hockey conference, 7:10 pm, Dublin Chiller.

                                                                                                       by Randy Zacharias