Upper Arlington Golden Bears 2   Coffman Rocks 6

Game Summary - Dublin Coffman vs. Upper Arlington, Saturday, January 26, 2008, Dublin Chiller

 

                                                                                                                                                            photo by Carol Anderson

1st Period
The journey continued on Saturday night as the Rocks entertained the Upper Arlington Golden Bears, the Rocks knew the game would be intense as UA has really come on in recent weeks as the continue to move up the CHC ladder. Rocks come out flying in this game, reminiscent of games prior to the scoring slump. Clearly the Rocks were not going to take the Golden Bears for granted, firing several shots on all-star like goaltender, Ian Ansel. As the teams exchanged physical play thru the midway point of the period, the Rocks are called for back to back penalties and the huge momentum swing door opened for the Golden Bears. Matt Zacharias, Anthony Rogers, Chris Ridgway and Stephen Panchyshyn are asked to rotate thru the 2 man disadvantage. The Golden Bears start firing immediately, controlling the power play with ease as they pepper Rocks net minder, Alex Rogers, Rogers is brilliant for the first 45 seconds of the shorthanded flurry. Rocks Chris Ridgway manages to strip the Bears d-man of the puck and is off to the races on a shorthanded breakaway as Ridgway hones in on Ansel, he makes a great move firing a low shot to the goaltenders left, Ansel makes a great save. The Bears head back up ice and Rogers steps on to help the penalty kill, Rogers intercepts a pass and he is gone on a breakaway, once again Ansel makes another great save to keep the Rocks off the board while shorthanded. Rocks kill off the penalty and the 1st comes to a close with the Rocks surviving a momentum swing even though they started so strong. Rocks were out shot by the Bears in the first period 12-6.

2nd Period
The 2nd would see the Rocks come out just as hard as they started the 1st, but just 33 seconds into the 2nd the Golden Bears top forward Nick Paraskos gets the benefit of a sloppy clear by the Rocks, as the puck is being carried around the net by a Rocks d-man, he loses the puck and Reid Greiner steals the puck and feeds Paraskos in the face-off circle to the left of Rogers, Paraskos drills a one-timer over Rogers shoulder short side and the Golden Bears draw first blood, 1-0 UA. Earlier this season the Rocks would not slow down and attack especially after being scored on, and the Rocks are starting too look more like themselves as Sam O'Brien steals a neutral zone pass, makes a move around a Bears forward and feeds Ryan Cohagen, Cohagen is in alone on Ansel, dekes and stuffs the puck upstairs and just 28 seconds later the Rocks answer, 1-1. The Rocks get their 1st man advantage of the game and they would jump on the opportunity, Rogers faces off to the right of Ansel, he goes straight ahead, chips the puck to Zacharias, he drops the puck behind his back to Ridgway, Ridgway turns into the face-off circle and wire a blistering wrist shot past Ansel, 2-1 Rocks. Ansel would step up for the next several minutes as he stops, Hoover, Edmonds and Roger on breakaways, the chances are starting to give the Rocks a much faster pace and that would payoff again as Jimmy Wall carries the puck through his zone, feeds Cohagen at the red line, Cohagen tips a pass to Andy O'Brien, O'Brien makes an outstanding move to get past a Bears d-man and walks in from the blue line untouched, O'Brien's quick release shot beats Ansel high Blocker side and the Rocks go up 3-1. Rocks out shot the Bears 13-5.

3rd Period
UA comes out strong to start the period, and it forces the Rocks to take another penalty, and the break is what the Bears needed as the Rocks get caught standing still in the neutral zone, Bears forward Rudy Wesolek heads up ice on a two on one, Wesolek winds up and takes a hard slap shot up high on Rogers, Rogers makes the save with the blocker, but the deflection is sent straight out in front and the Bears big d-man Zach Tulley cranks a hard shot past Rogers before he could get over on time and the Bears are back in the game again. The Rocks seem to respond well and put a lot of pressure right off the face-off and two minutes later Jordan Edmonds makes a slick play off the face-off to Ansel's left, he goes straight thru and beats Ansel clean short side with a rising wrist shot and the Rocks restore the lead 4-2. 4 minutes later the Rocks get the man advantage for the 2nd time on the night and the Rocks make quick work, Rogers wins the face off in the Bears end to Wall on the blue line, Wall feeds Zacharias in the corner, Zacharias returns the puck in the middle of the slot while Wall walks in and one times a howitzer, Ansel has no chance with the traffic in front and the Rocks lead 5-2. The Rocks are now firing and try to complete the game so the Bears don't get back into the game, but Ansel is too stingy stopping both Rogers and Ridgway in consecutive breakaways, but with time winding down under a minute to go, Wall makes a quick pass cross rink to Ridgway and he and Rogers have another odd man advantage, the give and go the puck 3 times moving Ansel back and forth until Rogers fires a shot low, Ansel's first save was great but he had no answer for the 2nd and Rogers buries the puck with 18 seconds remaining 6-2 Rocks.  Rocks out shot the Bears 9-3 in the 3rd and 28-20 overall.

Rocks Highlights:
A much better effort tonight by the entire team, hints of the Rocks from earlier this season showed themselves tonight, the most noticeable the passing. Rocks can be a scary team when they move the puck and most of the chances were created off some great plays. Sunday is a big night as the Dublin Shamrocks celebrate their leader and only Senior, Anthony Rogers, for Seniors night, Sunday vs Dublin Scioto, 6:00 pm, Dublin Chiller.

 

                                                                                                                      by Randy Zacharias