Week 7 – Recap

JRHL Week 7 – Green Monkeys pick up an important point in an OT loss to the Snakes, Orange Iguanas are officially out of playoff contention after taking an L to the Blue Barracudas, Purple Parrots upset a slumping Jaguars team.

Green Monkeys: 6 – Silver Snakes: 7

45 minutes just weren’t enough for this one to be settled as each team traded blows back and forth to send the game to overtime. The game started with the Monkeys supporting a new look since defensemen Bernie Seth is out with a season-ending injury. Period number one was a defensive and goaltending battle, much like the entire game, that ended with the Snakes having a 2-1 advantage. The second period was much the same but was marred with a bit of controversy. Defensemen Alan Homan fired a shot from the point that came out as fast as it went in and fortunately for the Snakes referee Aaron Bloom was in another universe. Everyone in attendance that wasn’t dressed in gray knew the puck beat goaltender Tomkowski. After little debate play went on as called on the ice and would prove to be a major discussion point at the end. The Monkeys needed to get back to work quickly as they entered the third trailing by two. Green rebounded by capturing a 6-5 lead with a few minutes left remaining in regulation. As the clock ticked away the Monkeys took a costly penalty with only a minute left to play and the Snakes buried the tying goal to send this one to OT. The Silver Snakes didn’t waste any time in OT as the duo of Nolan Mock and Tim George proved to be to much for the Monkeys, that pairing would give any team headaches! Tim George finally beat Carpenter for his first goal of the evening but it proved to be the most important. Nolan Mock led the Snakes with 4 goals and Bryan Scott led the Monkeys with 3. Would the missed goal in the second make a difference in this one? Who knows but either way it was the most exciting game of the evening!!

Blue Barracudas: 17 – Orange Iguanas: 13

The Blue squad played an inspired game this week and got back on track by officially eliminating the Orange Iguanas from the playoffs. A few members of Blue visited a long-time teammate battling an illness and came out fired up and it showed. Orange may be winless on the season but I feel they are slowly finding their identity and it wouldn’t surprise if they play spoiler to someone in the last few weeks of the season. The game progressed well for Blue as every player posted 4 or more points in the game with Russ Griffith leading the way tallying 6 goals. Scott Bassett, Jared Pavic & Brandon Curtis all had a total of 6 points as well. Oranges number 1 draft pick showed up to play this week by tickling the twine a total of 7 times. Blue now finds themselves sitting in 3rd place by a slim margin with 8 points. Every game is going to matter with two teams nipping at their heels with 7 points.

Red Jaguars: 7 – Purple Parrots: 9

WOW, that’s honestly all that can be said about how the red-hot Parrots are playing right now. This week they faced the number 2 team in the league and weren’t phased at all by beating the Jaguars 9-7. Not only was this an upset but it also handed the Red Jaguars their second straight loss and possibly made them question their identity. The parrots came out ready and gave themselves a 3-1 lead going into the second frame. Let’s face it, even after 2 consecutive losses, the Jaguars are not going to just lay down. They came out determined to close the gap and had success when they finished the second only trailing by 1, 6-5 was the score. The Parrots were up to the task and stayed steady by producing another 3 tallies in the third and holding the Jags to only 2 goals. They completed the upset by a final score of 9- 7. We interviewed Jaguars goalie Ryan Akers after the game and asked him what went wrong, “We simply need to be better and that starts with me. I didn’t have my best tonight and the results show. We will look into the mirror going forward and correct some wrongs.” Akers also went on to say “Man that Chad Davis is a monster out there, we simply didn’t have any answers for him.” Akers is right, Davis is taking the league by storm and it shows in points and the position of his team. With the Parrots win they are now tied in points with the Monkeys for the 4th playoff spot. Look for the Jags to get back on track this week as I’m sure their workhorse John Poloyac will not allow them to drop 3 in a row.