Monday December 16, 2019

Final: 6-2 Riels

What appeared to be a return to form quickly melted away on the Notre Dame ice as we saw a 2-1 second and third period lead thaw into a 6-2 deficit as the Riels took advantage of Power Plays and odd-man rushes to crush our hopes of victory.

Our still-depleted troops are having difficulty playing a complete 60 minutes and last night was no exception. We braved a steady onslaught in the second period but battled admirably to keep our one-goal lead going into the third.

Mulligan, #11, rushed the puck on four occasions and was hauled down three times with no call on the flagrant fouls. He’d had enough toward the end of the game and had a tussle with a larger Riel, frustration evident from the inconsistent whistle in the referee’s hand.

Seremet, playing his first game back from injury, had three goal-crease chances thwarted by their keeper and one shot which banged off the post and away from the cage…no puck-luck in Hawk-ville for the past month.

Smith #14 and AP-Loschiavo #10 gave us our 2-1 lead in the first which held up through the second until bounces and breakouts were our undoing in the third.

We’ve got two tough opponents to finish off before the Christmas break. We’re still missing four of our seven starting D and five Forwards so it has been a hellish November and December to say the least.

We still show heart each night out but will need that complete effort which has been eluding us of late.

Do not lose faith, we shall battle back.

– Fish