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Giveaways Spoil Streak!
2014-01-22There were too many giveaways to count last night and the result was a 6 game unbeaten streak coming to an abrupt end at the hands of the Cumberland A1 Dukes.
For the first period last night at Ray Friel, the ice was tilted in favour of Cumberland as it seemed that most of the play was in the Orleans zone. It didn't help that the RUSH got into penalty trouble early. Some strong penalty killing, particularly by the tandem of Justin and Steven, ensured that the Dukes stayed off the scoreboard.
More trips to the box in the early part of the second stanza didn't help the offensive cause but thirty seconds after a two man disadvantage become a one man deficit, the boys had a rush of energy (pun intended) and made some magic happen. Steven aggressively forechecked in the Dukes end and tried to wear some valuable seconds off the clock in the process. The puck eventually squirted back to Dom who threw it on net right away. Steven corralled the rebound and scored on his second attempt. The shorthanded tally seemed to breathe life into the boys as they gradually found their skating legs and took control of the game.
The giveaways got worse in the third period and after two or three "here you go, have the pucks", Cumberland took advantage and scored. With the game tied at one apiece, the parade to the penalty box intensified for both sides. In the span of 58 seconds starting at the 4:21 mark, more sloppy play and giveaways resulted in two Cumberland shorthanded goals. The final score was 3-1 for the Dukes and hopefully some lessons will be learned as follows:
The chance for redemption and the start of a new winning streak comes tonight!
GO RUSH GO!!!
More trips to the box in the early part of the second stanza didn't help the offensive cause but thirty seconds after a two man disadvantage become a one man deficit, the boys had a rush of energy (pun intended) and made some magic happen. Steven aggressively forechecked in the Dukes end and tried to wear some valuable seconds off the clock in the process. The puck eventually squirted back to Dom who threw it on net right away. Steven corralled the rebound and scored on his second attempt. The shorthanded tally seemed to breathe life into the boys as they gradually found their skating legs and took control of the game.
The giveaways got worse in the third period and after two or three "here you go, have the pucks", Cumberland took advantage and scored. With the game tied at one apiece, the parade to the penalty box intensified for both sides. In the span of 58 seconds starting at the 4:21 mark, more sloppy play and giveaways resulted in two Cumberland shorthanded goals. The final score was 3-1 for the Dukes and hopefully some lessons will be learned as follows:
- If you are the last man with the puck, make the safe play, usually hard on the boards to move the puck up to your forwards. Do not try to stickhandle through the attacking player.
- On the penalty kill, if you get the puck in your zone, rip it all the way down the ice. Trying cute passes up the middle to your forwards more often than not will lead to turnovers.
- Stay out of the penalty box, you can't score from there.
- Score more goals by getting more chances, shooting more pucks on net and burying those opportunities.
The chance for redemption and the start of a new winning streak comes tonight!
GO RUSH GO!!!