2020 Winter – Week 1 Recap

JRHL Winter 2020 Week 1 – Championship rematch between Barracudas and Snakes has a different outcome, Jaguars beats Monkeys in an early favorites match and the Parrots win big.

Silver Snakes: 9 – Blue Barracudas: 15

Game 1 of the 2020 JRHL Winter Season was a rematch of last season’s championship series. You might say the Snakes had a Championship hangover because this game did not play out like their last one. It was reported that during the month-long championship celebration, Goalie Brandon Bird was caught in the fountain of Johnstown’s Central Park drinking Milwaukee’s Best Ice from the trophy, we believe he was channeling his inner Ovechkin. None the less the celebration was over and the Barracudas wanted revenge. The scoring opened up this year, for the second straight year I might add, off the stick of Zak Kuzmyak. Not to long after that, JRHL Rookie Pat Callahan (PC), notched his first career goal to give the Snakes a 2-0 lead. Blue finally got on the board off the stick of Cory Mesteller to pull within 1 but fell behind by 2 again when rookie Todd Kamzik blew one past goaltender Matt Pfeil for his first career goal. However, that lead would not last because when the buzzer sounded on period number one, the score showed 3-3. The second frame started with some back and forth action but eventually, The Barracudas found their stride with a familiar face taking over. Forward Brandon Curtis, who scored 53 points last season (37G & 16A), found the net 3 times in the period and Blue peppered goalie Bird with 25 shots that resulted in 9 goals for the period. PC did his best to keep his team in it by scoring 2 which also gave him his first career hat trick but the second period ended with a score of 12-5. Silver came out flying in the third and tried their best to climb back in the game with a few quick third period goals. The old saying of “the prevent, prevents you from winning” came to mind but The Barracudas would bend but not break. When it was all said and done the game ended with The Barracudas getting a bit of revenge and The Snakes looking a bit rattled.

Green Monkeys: 5 – Red Jaguars: 7

Matchup number 2 in the evening saw two teams that are considered the early favorites. This game didn’t disappoint for the sellout crowd of 18 that looked on and watched a game that reminded them of Christmas. There was a vibe that these two teams were getting to know one another and feeling the opponent out. The scoring for the period showed that as it ended with a slight edge of 2-0 in favor of green. Johnny Poloyac (31G, 18A, 49P) put everyone on notice that last year wasn’t a fluke and no matter the color he dawns he will produce. John netted both goals of the period against his former goalie Ryan Akers. We asked Ryan about how it felt to face his former teammate “He’s one of the players in the league you just hope to slow down rather than shut down. I have to credit the Jaguars team defense for limiting him to what we did.” Period two started with Red needing some offense and needing it fast. Bryce Bostian got the ball rolling, figuratively and actually, as he slowly rolled the ball past goalie Dean Carpenter. Dean looked to the heavens in disgust because he knew even his newborn baby boy could have stopped that one!! As the period rolled on it found the Jaguars having a 5-3 lead with another usual suspect filling the net. Ryan Aker’s love child, Duane Reed (just playing Duane), scored twice as he continued to build off a fantastic 40 goal season last year. At this point, the period was coming to a close when another JRHL rookie scored his first career goal. Derrian Matchock not only scored to pull the game within one,he also earned the NHL “Not My Water Bottle” Medal, with a beautiful snipe that sent Akers water flying. The period ended with a score of 5-4 and still up for anyone to take. As the third period progressed each team found themselves scoring one to make the game 6-5, that’s when a bit of controversy came into play. With about a minute left the Monkeys were swinging into the zone and referee Bloom called them on offsides. This is not a friendly call in the eyes of the Monkeys as they pleaded their case but the call stood. Once the ball was placed Green was trying to decide whether they would take a TO our not which in turn meant they were not ready for the whistle. Bloom waits for no man and Bryce Bostian, who opened the scoring for Red, closed it for them by getting it by an unready Carpenter for the game’s final goal. As the saying goes “thems the breaks.”

Orange Iguanas: 9 – Purple Parrots: 22

The long-awaited return of Jeremy Hobor to the YMCA did not disappoint. Last season Hobor opted out of the inaugural season because he was worried about not playing with “his guys”, translation: “I can’t automatically win.” However, Hobor and the Purple Parrots did win convincingly as he tickled the twine 12 times. The first period saw an even amount of shots in favor of the Iguanas 21 to 20 but the score showed 5-3 in favor of the Parrots. Defensemen Nate Seidel got the scoring going for the Iguanas by notching the first of his two on the evening. Hobor had the Parrot’s first four goals before the rest of the team joined in on the fun. CJ Boxler tied his 2019 goal total by notching his 1 st of the season. He went on to have a career night by totaling 3G & 2A. The second period is where things started to get out of hand. The Parrots outscored the Iguanas 8-1 in that frame with every Parrot totaling points. Rookie Ben Grove had a great night by recording his first career hat trick and having a total of 4 points. As for the Iguanas, Zack Wesner had the biggest evening by capturing 3G & 1A but the biggest surprise came from the first overall draft pick Tim George. Tim only managed 1G & 2A in the loss but we don’t expect this to be the trend.

Next Weeks Matchups (Feb 9th )

5:30 pm – Orange Iguanas vs Green Monkeys
6:30 pm – Purple Parrots vs Silver Snakes
7:30 pm – Red Jaguars vs Blue Barracudas