DC Oilers players celebrate after their rout of Labrador, image credit to NBC Sports
DC, Eboracum, and Aquae Sulis raced to easy wins, while Isca Town, Pons Aelius, and Newfield found it a little more difficult.
DC Oilers 5, Labrador Caribou 1: Talk about starting off with a bang! The Oilers began their third round-robin with a 5-1 thrashing of the Labrador Caribou. In the first two games these teams played, DC escaped with a shootout win and a 1-0 win, but here it was DC domination from start to finish. Julian Stephens and Sammy Jensen scored in the first, Owen Jones and Reed Harrison made it 4-0 in the second, and Malcolm Hogg put the icing on the cake with the fifth goal in the third period. Oilers backup goalkeeper Chris Bennett, getting a start after Ted Carpenter had appeared in the vast majority of games this year, lost the chance for his first shutout of the year by conceding a goal to Victor Hall at 14:24 of the third. But Bennett made 27 other saves and was backed by more than enough offense to earn the victory. DC's offense continues to lead the league; only Eboracum has more than 50 goals scored, at 62. Labrador head coach Graham Ashton was tight-lipped after the game: "We lost badly. Clearly our heads weren't in it. We've got a lot of work to do." One doesn't blame him; four-goal losses are demoralizing. The Caribou are 1-5-0 in their last six games and now closer to last place than first, points-wise. They will try to right the ship against Portus Abonae.
Eboracum Sharpshooters 3, Mancunium Raiders 0: Mancunium came into the year having made two big signings in Quinn Baird and Heath Lindsay, expecting to play decently if not contend. But instead they find themselves languishing at the bottom of the standings and were clearly outplayed tonight in Eboracum. Head coach Cary Hodges was at a bit of a loss for words following the defeat: "I don't know what to tell you. We clearly need to clean things up on both sides of the ice. We've got to play better." In contrast to Mancunium's tailspin, the Sharpshooters have won three straight and five of their last six games. They are drawing ever closer to playoff position after struggling to find consistency before this recent string of wins. Especially encouraging was their defensive performance; the Sharpshooters have scored 62 goals, good for a 2.7/game average, but have allowed 56, or 2.4/game. If they can maintain their scoring punch while getting a lid on their opponents' attack, they will be a force to be reckoned with.
Sept-Iles Whalers 2, Aquae Sulis Bears 6: This was a surprise. Usually Sept-Iles is incredibly tough to beat at "Le Navire", but struggles on the road. Last night it looked like the opposite, as Aquae Sulis pretty much had their way with the Whalers for most of the game. Sept-Iles put up a good fight for one period, even striking first when Gaston Fortin beat Art Morrison at 5:38 of the first period. But two goals in under two minutes, one by Nick May and one by Martin Wong, at 16:31 and 18:24, seemed to break their spirit. They only trailed 2-1 going into the second, but didn't play like it was a close game. May scored his second at 4:22, and David Richter made it 4-1 at 12:09, and the Bears were firmly in control. Darin Drake and Kip Maddox scored in the third, putting Aquae Sulis ahead 6-1, and rendering James McDaniel's goal at 15:52 meaningless except for stat-padding purposes. Boos cascaded down, unsurprising considering that Aquae Sulis entered the day seventeen points out of playoff position and seven points behind the Whalers. This is a massive confidence boost for the Bears, letting them release some frustration heading into a game against surging Eboracum. For the Whalers, they'll have to shake this one off and find some confidence going into a difficult game at Pons Aelius.
Isca Town Captains 1, Londinium Royals 0: A win for the Royals would have put them three points behind the Captains, six points clear of Eboracum, and eight points up on Labrador. That's a strong position to be in. Instead, they were beaten by an extremely competent Isca Town squad and lost just their second game of their last ten. Robbie Reid notched the only goal at 18:44 of the first period and try as they might, the Royals could not and did not find an equalizer in the remaining forty minutes to keep them in the game. Eli Boyd did do a good job of stopping Isca Town from building on the lead, making 29 stops, including 20 in the last two periods. But Sheldon Cook, Eric Benson, Daniel Roberts, Thomas Bailey, Nico Nielsen, Ben Malone, and others were all denied by Justin Smith, who made 32 saves. The Royals have a tough assignment in DC the next time out; a win would put them just two back of the Oilers, while another loss might allow the Sharpshooters and Caribou to gain ground on them.
Portus Abonae Privateers 0, Pons Aelius Steelers 1: All that momentum the Privateers had built up during their three-game winning streak came to a screeching, grinding, crashing halt in Portus Abonae last night. In fact, it was a little like this. A good day, coming off three wins, you loosen up the playbook a little and let the guys roam and create. So many opportunities to put the puck in the net, to control the game, to avoid driving straight into the- aw shucks, another loss. The Steelers didn't play their best game, but they survived and let the Privateers make their own mistakes, then took advantage. Aaron Black scored the only goal at 7:41 of the third period and the Steelers' defense took care of it from there. They kept pace with Isca Town and DC, staying four points and one point behind them, respectively. It was a good bounceback for them, having lost the past two games 1-0 to Isca Town and DC. The Privateers get Labrador next.
Vinovium Lumberjacks 0, Newfield Rangers 1: The Rangers entered this game seven points clear of Vinovium, and with the conviction that this was a must-win game. You don't build experience for the future or try to claw into near-contention by losing to last-place teams on the road. This may be the easiest road game you can get, theoretically. But it was anything but. Both sides jockeyed for position all night, with plenty of hard hits and good defensive stick work interspersed with strong performances by backup goalies Simon Barnett and Bradley Gibbs. Newfield entered the final period with a 22-19 shot advantage and a narrow possession advantage. More than halfway into the period, a Vinovium forward was whistled for interference and the Rangers went on the power play. They used the man advantage to get Elliott Parrish open for a quick wrister that sneaked by Barnett to give Newfield the lead. The Rangers held on for the 1-0 victory, their ninth of the year. Newfield will have a chance to build on this win when they take on the other last-place team Mancunium next. Vinovium has a tougher assignment against Newfield.
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