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猛熊8-3擊退老虎 確定預賽排名第一
犀牛5-2打敗暴龍
亞軍競爭白熱化
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2005中華冰球聯盟球季逐漸進入尾聲，四隊間的強弱消長也開始明朗化，5/29晚間首場犀牛隊靠著首節射進三分穩定軍心，終場5-2擊敗墊底的暴龍隊，保住爭奪預賽第二名機會，稍後猛熊隊則是利用前兩節打下六分的保險，以8-3拿下這場重要的勝利，目前戰績六勝一負確定以預賽第一名之姿進入決賽。
在上一場比賽開胡的暴龍隊，此役首節頗有延續上一戰的氣氛，率先攻進兩分給犀牛一個下馬威，不過犀牛立刻穩住陣腳，該節連趕三分反將分數超前，Mark
Paas個人就包辦兩分進帳，第三節犀牛趁勝追擊再下兩分，輕鬆獲得本季第三勝。
暫居前兩名的猛熊、老虎兩隊，進行本季最後一場交手，猛熊一開賽即展現強烈的求勝欲望，在John
Long、 John Thompson兩位得分好手帶領下，前兩節取得6-1的大幅度領先，老虎雖在末節展開反攻，連續攻進兩球，不過猛熊見狀回敬兩分，澆熄對手反撲氣燄，終場8-3拿下第六勝，登上本季預賽第一寶座。
May 29th
After a three week hiatus due to the Malaysia
World Ice Hockey 5’s, the CIHL teams took to the ice again
this past weekend.
The early game featured the Raptors and the Rhinos. The
Raptors were coming off their first win of the season while
the Rhinos suffered a defeat in their previous match at
the paws of the powerful Bears.
Mark Pass personally was guaranteeing a win
for the Rhinos, just like Mark Messier of the NHL NY Rangers
did in the ’94 Stanley Cup Finals. Paas took the Rhinos
last lost to heart and decide it was time to show the league
what damage he can do.
The Raptors though came out shooting on all
cylinders and notched two goals with in the first four minutes
of the game form Mal Turner and Tommy Sullivan. The two
goal lead was not going to hold up for long and before the
end of the period the Raptors were down by one at 3-2.
In a seven minute span the Rhinos were counter
attacking ferociously and Paas figured in on all three goals
with two slappers and the lone assist on Rob Dombowsky’s
fifth of the season.
Paas’s two goals were both marksmen style shooting
as the first goal rang of the vertical iron and the second
goal was quite similar but to the opposite side. Jeff Redl
would save a little face later in the second period as he
stuck out the right pad to stuff Paas on the breakaway.
Turner continued all game to be a thorn in
the Rhinos back all game as he repetitively took their defence
wide or down middle. He had more chances then a card-counting
poker player. Unfortunately for the Raptors he was unable
to convert on all but one of his opportunities.
The second period saw the teams exchange blows
and scoring chances. Paas and Turner each had breakaways
that they couldn’t complete, but the best chance for the
Raptors should have came on the power-play.
The lone penalty of the contest came as heavyweight
‘Mad-dog’ Maidment caught lightweight Rich Krahn turning
the wrong way and crushed him into the boards. The ensuing
man-advantage was wasted by the Raptors and seemed to give
more life to the already steaming Rhinos.
After a scoreless second the Rhinos were able
to put away the match 5-2 one goals by Bob Ford and Kevin
Kennedy. Kennedy, drafted first over-all in the 2005 CIHL
draft was much overdue as this was only his second of the
season.
The Tigers were still missing ex-leading scorer
Steve Clarke with a broken foot and on this night they would
also be without Dave Campbell (Soup), who went home to visit
family. So the Tigers were counting on leadership from all
areas.
With Steve Mossing, Craig Crawford and Chris
August all missing from the Bears, they too would be searching
for others to step in and lead the top team of the CIHL
to victory.
However the advantage was in the Bears favour
as they were only missing 14 points form their line-up while
the Tigers would have to play without their top two scorers
accounting for 24 of the Tigers points this season. Clarke
alone is a 14 point lost for the Tigers.
The game, which was the first game of the season
with no penalties, was relatively quick and constant. The
flow of the match seemed to go back and forth quite evenly.
Regrettably for the Tigers, a game like this
is exactly what the Bears like and John ‘Tornado’ Thompson,
spun around the Tigers ‘D’ and score a natural hat trick
in the first period. He added one more in both the second
and third, while also putting up a rare helper to add to
his league leading 16 goals and 5 assist. With Thompson’s
five goal performance the rest of the Bears didn’t have
to do much.
The Tigers got on the board on a controversial
goal from Kevin YU which came off a Neal Watts’s blocker
save as Kevin was standing in the crease. Unluckily for
the Bears, video replay is not in the budget this year for
the CIHL and they had to let the call stand.
With the score already 4-1 in favour of the
Bears after the first period, the second and third slid
even more to the Bears side as they scored three more unanswered
goals from Thompson, John Long and James (HUANG, WEI-HUNG).
The Rhinos replied on goals by Mark Gauthier
and Michele Malone almost half-way through the third period
to close the gap to four gaols. Both goals were quality
shots that squeezed through small holes in Watt’s armour.
Captain by default, John Long of the Bears
had a four point night, assisting on three and scoring with
only 13 seconds remaining in the second period.
Final score, Bears 8 and toothless Tigers
3!(2005-05-29 Tommy Sullivan)
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