The Pennsylvania Recap

This was the game... A loss to PA would have meant nothing to them, the standings wouldn't have changed. A win to OH would have meant a 4 or 5 seed, rather than the 7th they are in now. The tie they ended up with kept them from getting the bottom seed, but it pits them against PA again, but not the same team from last night.

Let me paint the picture for you... The tournament at State Wars, while a great event, has in my opinion a couple of flaws.

First flaw: The 2 period game. While it's true that the clock stops and maximizes the 12 minute periods, there is no time to recover from 1 bad period. The boys are all used to three period games, and I don't think the mindset is there at this age to recover from a flurry of goals against. Don't get me wrong, it's fair, because all games are run this way, it's just good hockey, and I personally would like to see it go three periods :)

Second Flaw: The ranking of teams. When teams are evaluated during try-outs, they are ranked as A or AA/AAA. Fair enough. However, if there are not 8 AA/AAA players to make a team, they make them an A team. Which must compete against teams that are potentially all (or mostly) A's.

Here is how that second flaw played out last night: The PA team had 4 skaters and a goalie ready to go at game time. These boys are good, of the AA/AAA variety. The choose not to dress the whole team, because 3 of them played on the 1997 AAA team. They had a game later that night and wanted to rest them. As the puck dropped, another skater showed up and joined the team. It's still unknown if this is a roster player, but is being looked into by the coaching staff. Either way, we knew PA would be a tough team, and they are in the top spots in the standings.

Playing against only a handful of them gave Ohio a chance, and boy, did these kids play their heart out. If you read the Tweets (which I recommend for the full play by play recap), then you know it was a close game the whole time. Ohio got an early lead and then lost it, and then tied it.

Even a rare fight broke out (started by PA, which would have given OH the extra skater, but there was only 6 seconds on the clock).

It was the best game the boys played. Zac had a great first shift, OK in-between shifts, and the best opportunity on his last shift. Let me tell you... He had the game winner on his stick. Shot from high in the slot (Justin has a heck of a slapper) that the goalie dropped right in front, where Zac was there to bat cleanup. He lifted the puck nicely and it was headed right for a puck and half size opening, where it just caught the inside of the post, just enough to keep it from going in. What a game changer that would have been with less than 2 minutes on the clock and the score knotted at two.

And so it was, the boys from the Heart Of It All gave it all their heart and ended the regular games with a respectable 0-2-2 record. Seeded 7th, they will face Pennsylvania tonight at 5:30 PM Central time for their single elimination play off game.

I hope the boys forget everything else, and play this game with the ever increasing ability they have been showing thus far. Anyone can win, and this might just be there night!

Good luck boys.

Note: I left my card reader at home, so most of the action shots taken with the "big" camera will have to wait. So, sorry, no action shots just yet!