Coffman Rocks 0   St. Charles Cardinals 1

Game Summary - Dublin Coffman vs. St. Charles, Wednesday, January 16,2008 - Ice Haus

 

                                                                                                                                                            photo by Carol Anderson

1st Period
CHC conference game between to 1 loss teams pitted the St. Charles Cardinals against the Coffman Rocks. In an earlier game in the season the Rocks may have been out played and managed to squeak out a 1-0 victory. However this game had more implications as both teams looked to reach the top of the CHC standings. The match up for the Rocks was to find a way to get past Cardinals goaltender Kyle Ray, Ray has been near flawless in CHC play this season allowing a mere 8 goals against in 8 games. The Rocks continued the physical play of late and came out a very determined team Jimmy Wall and Matt Zacharias, veteran defenseman for the Rocks were punishing in the 1st as they clearly controlled the Cardinals over most of the ice surface. The Rocks showed the strength on offense getting several chances throughout the period, with Anthony Rogers getting a great chance just to the right of Ray but Ray made the great save to keep the Rocks off the board. Rocks out shot the Cardinals 9-3.

2nd Period
The start of the 2nd was much like the first with the Rocks continuing the physical play and creating chances all over the Cardinals end, Rogers gets a pass from Chris Ridgway in the slot and his one time slap shot is gloved by a lightning fast glove from Kyle Ray. The very next face off Ryan Cohagen wins a draw back to Jimmy Wall, and Wall crushes a slap shot top shelf only to see Ray's blocker get there in time to make yet another brilliant save. A bad give away leads to the Cardinals 4 the shot of the game half way through the period, but the giveaway is to all star forward Cam Sommers, Sommers streaks in alone and makes an outstanding deke attempt but Alex Rogers splits in half to make a brilliant save of his own. Cardinals have chased the Rocks for half a game but get the break they need when the Rocks take a penalty, Cardinals forward Charles Lacasse controls the puck on the power play to the left of Rogers, he cycles the puck with Pat Masciangelo in the corner, that frees up Daryl Mason on the point and Mason drills a high slap shot on Rogers, Rogers takes the puck off his shoulder and the puck goes straight up in the air, no one sees the puck and it lands just behind Rogers and rolls into the net to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. The goal lifted the play of the Cardinals as Sommers and Garret Huber begin to dominate the game from the Cardinals forwards. The Rocks get a break back with 3 minutes left on the power play but its short lived as the Rocks get one right after the face-off, however the 4 ob 4 allows a lot of open ice and the Rocks send out Ridgway, Rogers, Zacharias and O'Brien. A perfect passing play thru the neutral zone allows a great chance as Zacharias feeds Rogers at center ice, Rogers back hands the puck to s flying Ridgway he slams on the breaks just inside the Cardinals end, both Cardinals defenders attack Ridgway leaving Andy O'Brien all alone, Ridgway feeds O'Brien and he uncorks a hard low shot from the hash marks, beating Kyle Ray clean, only to hear the twang of the goal post and the Cardinals escape the 2nd in the lead 1-0. Rocks out shot the Cardinals 10-7.

3rd Period
The last frame would end up being frustration for the Rocks, for the first few minutes of the period the Rocks are throwing everything they have at the Cardinals but Ray is unbeatable, stopping Jeff Hoover, alone in front with his mask, saving a shot from Edmonds on the short side with his trapper and a point blank shot from O'Brien, on his knees to keep the goose egg on the board. The middle part of the period has the Cardinals getting more physical and creating several chances too put the game out of reach, but Alex Rogers robs Sommers and Huber thru the midway point of the period to keep the Rocks close. A power play for the Rocks is awarded and they send out the big line to get the game knotted but this time the Cardinals shut down the Rocks ad don't allow a single shot on the penalty kill. With 3 minutes to go in the contest forward Jordan Edmonds goes end to end makes a great move at the blue line and his hard rising shot just misses the top shelf on what looked to be a sure goal. Rocks had trouble getting the extra attacker out as the Cardinals played the dump the puck deep game in the waning seconds of the game, Rocks final get a flurry of shots in the last 37 seconds but Ray completes his game with some brilliant saves, and extends his league leading shutouts to 4 in CHC play. Rocks were out shot by the Cardinals 6-5 in the 3rd and out shot the Cardinals 24-16 overall.

Rocks Highlights:
Rocks played a terrific game and clearly the Cardinals did the same, the game was exciting at both ends and these two teams match up well with both winning their home games 1-0. The Rocks next see action at the annual MLK Tournament at the Dublin Chiller. Beginning the tournament game with the cross town rival Jerome Celtics, Friday evening, January 18th, 9:00 pm, Dublin Chiller. 

                                                                                                       by Randy Zacharias