Recap
The Minute Men and the Sting Rays were in full on opening night mode which made for a very entertaining game. Both teams have a good crop of new players as well as many returning players and the benches were full. The Sting Rays took the advantage early in the first period when new comer Logan Brann took a beautiful cross ice pass from another new comer, Noah Gawel and buried it into the empty side. About four minutes later the Rays scored again off the slick stick of returning player and last seasons leading goal scorer Chandler “Cha Ching” O’Dell. Matthew Kramer who literally signed his contract hours before the game would get the assist. With 1:52 left in the first period Gawel would snipe the Minute Men’s John Thompson on a breakaway from a turnover on the Sting Rays blue line for his first goal. That tally made it 3-0 and when the Minute Men were called for tripping just seconds after that goal, the Sting Rays were looking for a fourth. The opposite would happen however as everyone’s favorite villain, Wyatt Frontiero would shove aside O’dell in pursuit of the puck, block a shot and go the distance for the break away shorty for his first of the season, first of the night, and first for the Minute Men with just :04 left on the clock. The period ended 3-1, Sting Rays. The Minute Men opened scoring in the second stanza to close the gap to one. Newcomer Brendan Burgess snapped home a Side Show Robert feed in the slot for his first goal in the league. The Rays answered back four minutes later with a second Logan Brann goal set up by Chandler O’Dell. The Minute Men had an answer to that mere seconds later to reclose the gap right back to one on a four on four. Wyatt Frontiero would go coast to coast and snipe Jason Cribbs over his right shoulder short side for the sick goal, making it four to three. The Rays wouldn’t stand for it and sent out Aidan Lingo two shifts later and he would score his first goal in the league on a nice pass from fellow newcomer Alex Talbot. Chandler O’Dell would add his second goal of the night un assisted with four minutes left, and the period would end 6-3, Rays advantage. In the third things tightened up as the teams played hard nosed hockey waiting to see who would blink first. It would be the Minute Men when Noah Gawel would get his second of the night off a send away pass from Andrew Burnside. Seconds later when a slightly blocked Kyle “The Grand” Fanelli shot was hammered home by Joey “The Big Dog” Soroukas into the empty side, the Minute Men closed the gap to three making it 7-4. A power play goal with three minutes left from newcomer Jonny “Whatsa” Motta, and the Minute Men were looking to get quick strikes to force the first over time of the season right out of the box. They dominated much of the final three minutes but the return of Ty Schmidt who entered the game mid stream would prove to be the problem as he only let in two goals on thirty four shots and the game ends 7-5 for a Sting Rays win. The Minute Men out shot the Rays 60-32 with a power play goal and a short handed tally but still come up short in the opener. The Game had thirteen penalties and while the Rays scored seven, they were 0 for 6 on the power play.