A fast and furious first period with zeroes on the score board tell the whole story of the first twenty minutes. Outshot 14 -7 (shots on goal) by the Bandits, the Blues defense did a fine job keeping the puck out of the net. The Blues had a couple of super chances to score, but just couldn’t put the puck past the Bandit Goalie. After watching the chances to score in the first this could turn into a high scoring contest by the end of this game. A lot of the Bandit’s shots come from the neutral zone and are easily handled by Antoni.
Period two was more of a well-played hockey contest between two well matched teams. It was scoreless until the Bandits drew first blood at 13:58 of the period as their power play ended. They scored again at 16:42 on another power play to make it 2 – 0. It looked bad for the Jr. Blues, but these guys just won’t quit. Kyle Cook took a pass from Chris Sitler, took the puck behind the goal and hit Josef Pontasch coming down the middle in front of the goal. Ponce slammed it home to cut the Bandit lead in half at 19:24, or just 36 seconds left in the period. At the second intermission the Bandits led 2 – 1.
Bandits scored their third goal early in the third period to make it 3 – 1. The Blues had a no goal call for what reason I don’t know, the referee called the net off its pins, but Channel 20’s video showed it was still on the pegs after the whistle blew. With just 16 seconds left in the game Kevin Walters scored on an assist by Chris Sitler. Final score 3 – 2, and the Blues must win tomorrow or they will just go home instead of Texas.
So, get out to the Nellie and cheer these guys on, they need your support, and draft beer will be just a dollar. If you can’t join us, follow along on FASTHockey. Game time is 7:00 pm.
