The Blue Iroquois leapt to an early lead, silencing Red's Fans and stunning Blue's! At half-time, Blue was ahead 7-4. The Bladium was rockin' at the break of this one. Encouragement was yelled out to both teams, dads paced the walkway, and normally congenial Moms were - well, let's say they were urging their boys on with less than politically correct terms! Siblings were yelling as well. This was no casual pick-up game. These teams are filled with players who've won at everything they've tried and nary a player wanted that to change now!
In the second half, Blue scored 6 goals, led by Ross Rudow's heroics. He was involved in half Blue's second half goals, with 2 goals and an assist. However, Red roared into contention by scoring 9 goals, led by John Glesener who had 2 goals and 4 assists in the second half. Both players were magnificent! Score at the end of regulation? Thirteen all.
And, so, for 50 minutes of action - no one lost! But, no one won either. The crowd was schizophrenic! One part of the collective brain wanted the game to end as a tie. That way, no one would lose. But, the other hemisphere wanted victory and validation!
Sudden Victory ensued. Even then, for 5 minutes, the tie continued. But, the world wants resolution and resolution is what it got. Kyle Iversen, dodging from up top nailed the winning goal for Red! The players went crazy. Gloves and sticks were tossed. Kyle was jumped by his teammates. Victory belonged to the Red Braves - and so did the Slautterback Cup.
Red Braves 8th 14 John Glesener 2G 5A, Kyle Iversen 3G 3A (including OT game winner) James Torrey 2G, Ryan Lieber 2G, Max Van Muijen 2G, Mike Finegold 1G
Navy Iroquois 8th 13 Ross Rudow 2G 1A, Erik Smith 2G, Alex Martinez 1G, Chris Pereira 1G
Congratulations to both teams for a spectacular Championship game!
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Continuing the great series these to teams have played, today's match for the Championship was another nail-biter. Players, parents, coaches, and fans all knew that this was a must-see game! And, they weren't disappointed.
In the regular season, Gold won two of three. In both their victories, Gold got out to an early lead, red came back late to tie, but then Gold put it away in the final minutes. Once again, Gold got out to an early lead. Once again, Red came back to tie the score. But there the similarities end. Red kept on going and took the victory 15-13! While the season series is now tied at 2-2, Red won when it counted and they are the 7th grade Champs. They were the ones awarded the Slautterback Cup and they were the ones with the smiles on their faces at the end of the game!
This has been a great set of battles and all the players and fans will remember this set of contests for many years. It wasn't Gold's vaunted transition game that faltered, it was great goalie play by Teddy Enea of Red and a less aggressive team defense than Gold has shown in the past though Zach and Matti played their usual outstanding games.
Here is the stat line: Red Braves 15 Chris Sawyer 1G 2A, Kyle Ennis 1G 2A , Jack Bodine 2G 1A, Mackie Greason 2G 1A, Jack Michel 2G 1A, Casey Hock 3G, Dar Kusha 1G 1A, Connor Hunt 1G, Ted Brockie 1G, Wesley Greason 1G Gold Iroquois 13 Chase Miller 5G 1A, JW McGovern 4G 1A, Jared Welker 1G 1A, Zach Dutra 2G, Chase Hildeburn 1A, Teddy Wilm 1A (on a 40 yard outlet pass!)
Red had 53% of its goals from assists, while Gold had 38% of its goals assisted. Red had ten players’ score, while Gold had 5 players score. Telling statistics!
As fans and players know, the highest scorer on the team isn't always the MVP of the game. Today, Jack Bodine was superb on defense, in transition and on offense when it counted. Of the last three Red goals, he assisted on one and scored the other two. He was magnificent today!
In closing out this season's write-ups, I'd like to point out to readers that every winning team on Championship Sunday had a higher assist percentage than the teams they bested. There's a lesson here for every player, every coach, every parent, and every fan. |
