View from the Crease, The Short Report

Welcome!

Welcome to Shorty's View from the Crease, a weekly look at the world of the Black Stokes from the laptop perched on the back of my net. Welcome to all Stokes past and present, both at home and abroad, who have contributed to the tradition of excellence that is the Black Stokes which I will endeavor to maintain through these reports. Check back weekly during the remainder of the season to follow the progress of the team in our efforts to repeat as champions of the Downtown Men's Hockey League!

Quarter-Finals
April 2nd & 10th, 2005 vs Original's Blues

Game 1: Stokes 8 Blues 1
Game 2: Stokes 4 Blues 3
(Stokes win series 2-0)

After a convincing 8-1 win in game one highlighted by a Joe Blasioli hat-trick both teams had trouble recruiting players for the Sunday matinee. The Blues and their single substitute took on a Stokes team with 8 skaters in what was sure to be a war of attrition. Despite our psychological advantages the Blues capitalized on their chances to take a 2-0 lead into the final period. Less than a minute later they scored a soft one on yours truly to make the score 3-0 but that lit a fire under our boys. Knowing we had 20 minutes left to play and that their players were sure to run out of gas eventually we kept our composure and continued to play our game. Casino broke the ice with a nice bank-shot and JJ followed that up with a successful penalty shot to bring us within 1 with 5 minutes to go. In our end Ben made a crucial late game defensive stop on a 2 on 1 when he intercepted the pass across the slot by chopping on the top of the puck and stopping it on a dime to thwart the threat. When their star player was ejected with 3 minutes left our relentless onslaught on the powerplay proved to be too much to defend against as we tied the score. With overtime on the horizon there were no thoughts of waiting that long to put the game on ice as Hendo took a pass from Casino and with a burst of speed that Jeff Hodge would be proud of darted past their defenseman and fired a slapshot past the goalie with 1:04 on the clock to give us the victory! A great team effort helped make up for our depleted numbers and carried us into the semi-finals next weekend.

The next game will be Sunday afternoon at 2 at St. Mike's. Our opponent is still to be determined but will be the Four Season Stars unless the Gourds complete their upset of McSorley's next weekend in which case we will face them instead.

On to the Semis!

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March 19th, 2005 vs The Gourds

Stokes 7 Gourds 3

We finally beat the Gourds in our last regular season game and stopped enough shots to allow JB and the Stars to overcome our deficit in team goals against, beating the Morningstars who allowed 3 in the nightcap. All in all a fine tune up weekend for the playoffs maintaining the consistency of effort that allowed for an impressive 14-2-4 record. Now to prepare for the second season...

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March 18th, 2005 vs The Four Seasons Stars

Stokes 7 Four Seasons 1

After allowing the Stars to take a 1-0 lead on a powerplay goal the Stokes responded in fine fashion with 7 unanswered goals. In the process we successfully shut down the league's leading scorer and "Junior B" who, after announcing his legendary lineage to Grandpa Berry proceeded to wipe out during the handshake.

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March 13th, 2005 vs The Boozers

Stokes 7 Boozers 0

A rare shutout by the Stokes which was earned by the team's commitment to defense as the Boozers only managed one shot all game. A convincing victory that clinched first place and built our confidence as we prepare for the final weekend of the regular season.

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March 5th, 2005 vs Original's Blues

Stokes 4 Blues 2

Saturday’s game versus the Blues turned out to be a much tighter game than anticipated given that two teams were at opposite ends of the standings. We took to the ice with a full 3 lines of Stokes including the long awaited return of Wayne himself to the defensive corps. However, any extra confidence we had going into the game was shaken early on when they scored a breakaway goal on the very first shift. The game remained 1-0 for most of the game until JJ scored to tie it up with 15 minutes left. Thankfully that goal opened the floodgates and it was all Stokes from then on. JJ continued his spectacular play of the last few weeks with a nice breakaway goal to give us the lead. The third goal came only moments later when Jim deked out the goalie on a nice breakaway of his own. Not to be out done JJ followed that up with a slapshot from centre that deflected perfectly off of Casino at the blueline ringing off the bottom of the post and in beyond the stunned goalie. The Blues countered by firing one through our net to cut the difference to 4 to 2 but would come no closer as the Stokes' legendary team defense clamped down on their attack to shut the door and preserve the victory. One could almost hear their dejected bench singing the blues as the final buzzer sounded to end the game. While the Blues players might not have all been “original” they did put up a good fight and emphasized the excellent parity that exists in our division.

Next game is Sunday at Noon at De La Salle vs the enigmatic Boozers whom we trounced 10-1 last meeting to avenge the 4-1 defeat they handed us in our first meeting of the season. A victory Sunday will clinch first place in the division and the top seed going into the playoffs. We had better bring our shooting sticks this weekend if we hope to crack their star goalie’s confidence again.

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February 25, 2005 vs Brass Taps

Stokes 6 Brass Taps 4

Friday night's game against the Brass Taps gave the squad a chance to get reacquainted with one another after the successful Montreal training excursion last weekend. The relaxed atmosphere in the dressing room moved out onto the ice where we moved the puck well but were put in a hole early when an over ambitious attempt to intercept a pass by yours-truly lead to the opening marker by the Taps. Fortunately we maintained our composure and responded quickly with a nice one-timer that Big Country fired just inside the left post to tie the score. After falling behind again after we surrendered a rare power-play goal, JJ pulled off one of the nicest plays of the year when he took the puck coast-to-coast, fooling defenders with move after move along the way before getting both the last D-man AND the goalie to bite on a fake slapper to open the net so he could slide the biscuit inside to knot the score at 2. He showcased his wheels on defense on the very next play when he hustled back to make a diving poke-check to thwart a breakaway attempt by a frustrated Tapsian forward. In the second period we decided that we had let the Taps stay in the game long enough. Croc helped us pull away with two goals from in close after extended pressure from both lines. BC then added his second of the night to put the game out of reach - it would have seemed. However, yearning for more close play we decided to spot them 2 more with what would have appeared to the casual observer as sloppy defensive play. With the score 5-4 with 3 minutes left a desperation penalty put us down a man for 2 minutes. Suddenly we found ourselves needing to kill a penalty with their goalie pulled to maintain the lead. Graciously the Taps players opted to scrum after the whistle despite the fact that the clock was running, wasting precious seconds they would need to mount a comeback against the first-place Stokes. With the penalty killed, you could almost hear a lone cornet playing Taps from the opponent's bench as Ben slid one into the empty net to seal the victory - 6-4 Stokes.

Next game is Saturday at 9 versus the last place Blues who were shutout last week but handled the Morningstars easily the week before winning 5-2. Be on the lookout for Jaimie Sokolsky, #15 on defense who leads their team in scoring with 9 goals and 6 assists in 10 games. He gets his share of PIMs too (16 on the year) so we might be able to get under his skin if need be.

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