Author Archive: Ben Sumner

Squirrels 6, Vikings 0

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When the Squirrels and Vikings matched up two and a half weeks ago, the Squirrels barely had enough players to start the game, and the Vikings took advantage. On Thursday, the Squirrels had subs aplenty, and ran away with a 6-0 victory in front of three fans at the Patrick rink.

The game started off slow as the teams skated through an uneventful first period. Finally, Matt Borlik found the net midway through the second period. A few minutes later, Borlik hit Greg Wenograd with a perfect centering pass and the Squirrels were up by two.

In the third period, the Vikings were clearly tired, and the Squirrels posted 22 shots on net – half of their total for the game – while scoring four more times. Rob Myers and Ed Bager got goals, and Tony Richelsen had the final two.

Drew Thiemann made 17 saves in net to get the team’s fifth shutout of the season. The Squirrels played without Don Marks and Adam Hughes. Chi Pham subbed on defense.

The next game is Monday, at 8:45 against the Wrong Stuff in Resor. The Squirrels close out the regular season Thursday at 10:40 in Logsdon, also against the Wrong Stuff.

Squirrels 4, Dog Star 3

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D. Richelsen Lifts Squirrels

Defenseman Desi Richelsen is known as many things around the league, but scorer isn’t one of them. In the Squirrels 4-3 victory against Dog Star Thursday night, Richelsen finally got that label, while not losing his regular reputation, either.

The Squirrels got the scoring starting in the first period as Greg Wenograd slammed home a shot from the left side. Dog Star answered later on a power play.

In the second period, Richelsen wristed in a shot from the point to put the Squirrels up 2-1. Dog Star scored short-handed, and the game was tied going into the final period.

Midway through the third, Matt Borlik scored, and Richelsen followed less than a minute later to give the Squirrels a comfortable 4-2 lead with 6:35 remaining.

Both teams took a couple of penalties, including a major-misconduct slash against Dog Star in the final few minutes. With 11 seconds remaining, Dog Star scored, and then almost did again in the final seconds, but the Squirrels held on for their first win against them this season.

Along with the two goals, giving him three on the season, Richelsen had two penalties and scuffled with a few players on Dog Star, as expected.

Dog Star badly outshot the Squirrels, 24-14, as Drew Thiemann made 21 saves in net. Ed Bager had three assists.

The Squirrels played without Don Marks, Phil Van der Vossen, and Rob Myers.

The next game is Thursday, March 16, at 10 p.m. in the Patrick rink against the Vikings. The Squirrels lost to them 4-2 last week while skating with only nine players.

Squirrels 5, Southwest Airlines 2

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Battling with fewer players than usual Wednesday, the Screaming Squirrels won their fourth game in a row — 5-2 against Southwest Airlines — which sent them to second place in the standings.

Ed Bager got the scoring started 8 minutes into the game by connecting with Matt Borlik in front of the net. Bager returned the favor later in the period as he assisted on Borlik’s first goal. With less than a minute remaining in the period, Borlik collected a pass from Rob Myers and scored again.

In the second period, Ben Sumner put the Squirrels up 4-0 with shot that went through the crease to the far side of the net. Southwest Airlines finally answered with a goal late in the period.

In the third period, Southwest Airlines cut the lead to 4-2 with a power play goal. But minutes later, Bager scored again off a pass from Borlik, and the Squirrels held on for the rest of the game.

The Squirrels outshot Southwest Airlines, 41-12. Drew Thiemann made 10 saves in net.

Don Marks, Brian Jackson, Chris Long and Sergio Balatan missed the game for the Squirrels, who used four defensemen and seven forwards.

The next game is Sunday, February 26, at 2:15 p.m. against the Vikings, a team that is close behind the Squirrels in the standings.

Vikings 4, Squirrels 2

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Since the league rescheduled this game to Sunday afternoon, the Squirrels knew they would have a short bench reminiscent of last summer. Nine players showed up, but the Vikings had a few more substitutes, which made much of the difference in their 4-2 victory.

The Squirrels held their own for almost two periods, leading 2-1 up until the final moments of the second period. This was despite playing the first few minutes with six total skaters and no goaltender, and not getting a third substitute until almost two-thirds of the way through the game.

Midway through the first period, Ed Bager got the scoring started as he tapped in a pass from Matt Borlik off the face-off. The Vikings tied the game soon after. In the second period, Tony Richelson found himself on the breakaway, streaked across the middle and put the Squirrels up by one.

Late in the second period, the Vikings tied the game off of a fluke knuckler after the puck dropped for the face-off in the Squirrels’ zone. Less than a minute later, they scored again to take the lead, then scored once more in the final frame. Despite being short of breath, the Squirrels staged a final flurry but couldn’t score again.

Borlik, Bager, Phil Van der Vossen, Ben Sumner, Don Marks, Charles Wolstein, Desmond Richelson, Tony Richelson, and Drew Thiemann played for the Squirrels, who dropped to 11-5-1 on the season. The Squirrels outshot the Vikings, 21-14.

The next game is Thursday, March 9, at 10:30 against Dog Star in Resor.

Squirrels 6, Nordiques 5

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In what is now one of the biggest rivalries of the division, the Screaming Squirrels and the Nordiques faced off for the third time Sunday night, trading goals down to the final moments. This time, the Squirrels found a way to win, snatching a 6-5 victory by scoring three times in the third period.

The Squirrels knew that there was one guy in particular who they needed to shut down: The league’s leading scorer, Walt Bender Jr. They didn’t. But the Squirrels got a spark of their own from Don Marks, who hadn’t played in more than a month. Two minutes into the game, Marks took a centering pass from Tony Richelson, and knocked the puck in to get the scoring started.

Bender scored his first goal midway through the first period. Thirty seconds later, it appeared that the Squirrels went ahead as Ed Bager hit the puck in the net, but instead he was called for high-sticking and served a four-minute penalty. The Squirrels killed it, and then another minor, but gave up a goal just as the power-play expired in the final minute of the period.

The Nordiques and Squirrels traded two goals apiece in the middle frame. Matt Borlik tied the game on a power play, and Ben Sumner slid in a loose puck to give the Squirrels the lead. Then Bender took over, getting two more in the second period to put the Nordiques back ahead.

Brian Jackson took a major penalty late in the period, which carried over to the third period, but the Squirrels managed to kill it. Jackson then redeemed himself by scoring later in the period on another power play to tie the game. With two and a half minutes remaining, Marks whacked in another loose puck in front of the net to regain the lead. On the same line shift, Bager scored a much-needed insurance goal. The Nordiques got one back with a late flurry around the net, but the Squirrels held on to win.

Rob Myers, Sergio Balatan and Greg Wenograd missed the game for the Squirrels. Drew Thiemann faced 19 shots in net as the Squirrels posted 35. The Squirrels and Nordiques are now 1-1-1 head-to-head this season.

The next game is Wednesday, February 22, at 10 p.m. in Resor against Southwest Airlines.