Franchise Hockey 8 Leigh 2
Cleverly lambasted his teammates for not skating hard, and a different Franchise emerged for the third period. An inspired group built on their 3-1 lead and gave netminder Mikey Stanzler all the goal support he would need in the Franchise's 8-2 win.
Nick Sako opened the scoring in the first period, converting on a two-on-one pass from Matt King. At the end of the first, King's breakaway tally gave his team a 2-1 lead.
On the first shift of the second period, Cam Rowland, coming from his baseball game, scored in his first action of the game. Taking a feed from Sako, Rowland banged home his career-high ninth of the season.
But the Franchise was lagging in speed and Cleverly, seeing the lull, held his teammates accountable.
What resulted was a third period outburst. King's breakaway goal, his twenty-fifth of the season, opened the floodgates for Sako. After a shoving match landed Sheraj Ragoobeer in the penalty box, the Franchise dominated three-on-three play. Sako finished with four third period goals on a series of pretty passes.
Franchise Hockey will conclude its regular season next Saturday against Bellarmine. The team will be without Sako's fifty-five goals and Stanzler's former playoff MVP goaltending.
Box Score:
1st Period:
Sako 54 (King, Cornelius)
King 24 (Cleverly)
2nd Period:
Rowland 9 (Sako, King)
3rd Period:
King 25 (Cleverly, Cornelius)
Sako 55 (Cleverly, Cornelius)
Sako 56 (King, Cornelius)
Sako 57 (King)
Sako 58 (King, Ragoobeer)
Goaltending:
Stanzler 7-2 (2 GA)
Captain's Thoughts:
This was a big win for a simple reason. This was the first time, all season, we had to overcome real adversity.
Starting with no subs against a team like Leigh was a challenge. Though we built a small lead, we didn't really have a handle on the game. Until two key events.
One had to be Ray telling everyone to start playing. Until the third, we didn't skate, and we weren't ourselves. The second incident was when Sheraj got tangled up with that Leigh player. Now I'm not sure why Leigh hates Sheraj so much (actually I might but that is California), but they're targeted him every chance they've gotten. We responded immediately. Like Sako said pregame, Tiger Woods is motivated by people who challenge him. Leigh challenged us. We fought back.
And won.-
Your Captain
#37