It was a heated match up last night at the University of Colorado Recreation Center. And despite some grueling effort on the part of the Wally Do’s, the Sig Alph’s managed to hold on for a 3-1 victory.
Things got going early as the Sig Alph’s scored two goals in the first period. And the intensity was upped a few notches when a fight broke out between Wally Do’s forward Chase Gordon and the Sig Alph’s goaltender. Gordon slid into the keeper after getting tripped up on a breakaway attempt, and evidently the keeper felt Gordon could have avoided the collision. Gloves and helmets came off, and a storm of punches was exchanged between the two. Gordon received a five minute major for fight instigation, and the Wally Do’s were forced to go on the defensive for a stretch. They kept it together, however, and maintained a deficit of only two as the buzzer rang to signal the end of the 1st period.
Midway through the 2nd, the Sig Alph’s scored a third consecutive goal, and things were looking grim for the Wally Do’s. However, rising to the occasion minutes later was defensemen Henrik Lampert, who answered by showing some Bobby Orr-like talent as he sailed coast-to-coast, wheeling and dealing around the opposition. Ultimately he was 1-on-1 with the goalie and pulled a sensational deek move to earn the Wally Do’s first point of the night.
The goal gave the Wally Do’s some momentum, and they came out firing in the 3rd. Some solid stops by the Sig Alph’s goaltender prevented the Wally Do’s from gaining any ground.
And with just under seven minutes to go in the game, forward John Jurewicz laid a heavy punch into the face of an oncoming defender, dropping him instantly to the ground. Jurewicz was ejected from the game, and the Wally Do’s were faced with another five minutes of shorthanded play.
Despite being down a man, the Wally Do’s gave it their all in the final minutes. Many fans were brought to their feet in disbelief as two open-net shots sailed wide of the goal mouth. They continued to dig deep as the clock ran down, tapping into their reserve tanks for some extra fuel, but their efforts were in vain.
The Wally Do’s manager had this to say after the game: “We definitely didn’t play poorly tonight… in fact I was pretty pleased with our effort. We could have done a better job of working the puck in the offensive zone. We really need to do a better job of opening some space down there, and I think if we had done that we could have probably put a few more pucks past their goalie. The Sig Alph’s played very well, and I think it was good four our guys to see what they’ll need to bring to the table later in the season if we want to succeed.”
The Wally Do’s square off next against the league leading Iceholes; it will be their last regular season game. The puck drops Tuesday April 6th @ 9:45 PM at the University of Colorado Recreation Center.
