Troops Suffer Second Consecutive Loss

Allowing four unanswered goals, the Stormtroopers were handed their second consecutive defeat of the 2007 summer season as they fell to the Knights 4-1 in Wednesday night's OCICS contest. Three of the four goals against were surrendered in the second period, a recurring theme for the Troops.

The lack of Stormtrooper offense for the second consecutive game did not appear to be correlated to a lack of shots, as the Troops peppered Knights goaltender Mike Levin with 30 shots, quite an improvement over the 6 shot performance last week against the Coyotes.

Bob Reitinger ended the Stormtroopers 79:35 scoreless drought early in the third period when he found the puck in a wild scramble in front of the Knights net, poking it in to set the final tally at 4-1. Reitinger, along with linemates Mike Baranich and John Held, provided much of the Stormtrooper attack throughout the evening.

The Stormtroopers return to the ice Thursday, August 2 at 9:15 p.m. to engage the Renegades, also winless through their first two games of the summer season

Set Your Goals!

With the worst defeat in franchise history behind us, we can all look forward to the remaining seven games of the Summer season. I think we should use the remaining games this season to set individual goals for things each of us can work on with regards to our own performance leading into the Fall 2007 season.

Please use the comment section of this posting to share with the team three aspects of your individual game that you feel could use some work and you are commited to improving. My thought is that a public pronouncement of these things will keep us all a little more honest, and might prompt encouragement or reminders from our teammates as we rise and fall with our individual goals.

I'll be the first to admit my shortcomings in the comment section. I hope you'll all do the same. Just a reminder for those of you who have not signed up as an author for the blog: you don't need to be an author to leave comments. Anyone can participate in the comments section.

Little #89

July 17, 2007: Monday Night Massacre

The Stormtroopers suffered their worst loss in franchise history, falling to the Coyotes 7-0 in Monday evening's OCICS contest. The loss marks the fifth time the team has been kept off the score sheet in nine games.

Unable to mount an effective counter attack, the Stormtroopers spent much of the evening in their own end under an intense barrage of rubber. By the end of the second period, the outcome of the game and the final box score were determined as the mercy rule kicked in and the clock ran down the third period without stoppage.

In the previous meeting for both teams, the Stormtroopers managed a scoreless stalemate, handing the Coyotes one of the few setbacks of their 6-1-1 regular season record. In the rematch, the Troopers found themselves missing several key players in Michael Baranich, Nathan Clemens, and Rob Wrzesniewski. The Coyotes on the otherhand have added several offensively gifted players to what was already a leathal attack.

Next up for the Stormtroopers is the Knights, the defending OCICS Spring League champions. The puck drops Wednesday, July 25 at 9:00 p.m.

OCICS Summer Schedule

The Oaks Center Ice C South summer league schedule is out:

Mon. 7/16 - 9:00 p.m. vs. Coyotes
Wed. 7/25 - 9:00 p.m. vs. Knights
Thu. 8/02 - 9:15 p.m. vs. Renegades
Mon. 8/06 - 9:15 p.m. vs. Mustangs
Tue. 8/14 - 9:30 p.m. vs. Merck
Sun. 8/19 - 9:30 p.m. vs. Renegades
Mon. 8/20 - 10:30 p.m. vs. Ice Monkeys
Thu. 8/30 - 7:30 p.m. vs. Coyotes

All players are requested to be in the locker room no later than 30 minutes prior to game time.

Reserve Players: please contact Brian Sharma at bwsharma@hotmail.com with your availability from game to game.

The Summer Season is Almost Upon Us

Get psyched!