Squirrels 5, Whale 2

With only two subs on the bench, the Screaming Squirrels played long shifts and sucked wind for much of the game Thursday, but somehow managed a late-game scoring surge to beat the recently demoted Whale, 5-2.

Despite playing defensively much of the game, the Squirrels jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals by Stu Miller and Kyle Gassert. Then the Whale struck back with two goals in less than a minute.

Very little happened in the third period. Whale, which had three subs, continued to put pressure on the Squirrels, but goaltender Bob Sewell came up big.

Then something unexpected happened late in the game. The Squirrels, utterly exhausted, scored three goals in about a minute and a half after capitalizing off of Whale turnovers, including two by Stu Miller and one by Mark Tessar.

This is the first loss for the Whale in this division. No penalties were called in the game.