The Riptide were put to the test this past weekend, facing a pesky Hagersville 9 team in Hagersville, and an even peskier Hagersville 8 team at home.
The Riptide started the weekend off with a fantastic, last second win over Hagersville 9 on Thursday evening. Scoring started early for the Tide as power forward Drew Pardy found the back of the net before all of the Riptide faithful had even found their seats in the cold Hagersville Arena (assisted by Owen "thank goodness he's back" Clarke and defensive warrior Shane Williams). The Tide hung onto the 1-0 lead for the duration of the first period.
Entering the second period, confident with their lead, the Riptide quickly realized the speed of the Hawks, as the Hawks tied the game up soon after the period began. However, not to be outdone, the Riptide quickly re-took the lead as Jakob Kubisch capitalized on the double-minor penalty charged to Hagersville and slipped one past the Hawks' netminder (assisted by Zack Hall and Isaak Fisher - who played his best game of the season thus far!). The Riptide entered the third period with a confident 2-1 lead.
Late in the third period - and I mean LATE - the Hawks tied the game after a controversial no-call at the blue line. This fired up our Tide players, and in a final flurry of offensive press, Pardy netted his second of the contest with a mere 38 seconds remaining in the game! Pardy was assisted by the powerhouse defensive duo of Gray Kinden and Luke Pain. The final 38 seconds seemed like hours to the Tide faithful, but the Teal Riptide hung on for the well-deserved victory.
Of note in this game were the interesting defensive tactics of the Tide's own Zack Hall. Who knew that prowess in soccer can clear a puck as easily as the traditional hockey stick can? Hall very calmly and skillfully kicked the puck away from netminder Chris Chmiel, keeping the Tide safe from a Hawk offensive press. Wow, that kid must have had a very skilled and knowledgeable soccer coach at some point in his life....
The Tide had a much less-exhilarating game on Sunday against the other Hagersville team. Even with home-ice advantage, the Tide appeared drained (surely due to the anticipation of Hallowe'en) and could not keep up with the pace of the quick, visiting Hawks.
The game remained scoreless after one period, but the Tide seemed to be hanging on by a thread with much of the play being contained in the Tide's end. Late in the second period the Hawks started their scoring frenzy, one goal followed quickly by a second goal to end the period with a 2-0 lead.
The Tide could not contain the firepower of the visitors, and midway through the third were hit by another Hawks goal to go down 3-0. The Hawks scored their final goal just over a minute later. The lone Riptide goal was finally scored by Zack Hall, assisted by Jakob Kubisch and Brenhyn Gavey.
The Tide had many chances and lots of rebounds but could not find the back of the net. Kudos to Riptide netminder, Chris Chmiel, for keeping the game respectable. He was pummeled with shots and did a fantastic job keeping the puck out of the net as many times as he did.
The Riptide are next in action this weekend - Friday and Sunday against two hometown rivals. The Riptide fans are looking forward to another great weekend of hockey....and a hopefully few more "W's"!
Go Tide!