Category Archives: News

Squirrels 4, 5-Holes 3

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So far this season, all of the Squirrels’ victories came by three or more goals, and several of those wins were blowouts. On Wednesday, the Squirrels finally won a game by a competitive margin, and against a very good team which had shut them out earlier in the season — The 5 Holes. The 4-3 victory turned out to be an instant classic and a huge gut-check for the Squirrels, who are crawling their way back up the standings after four early-season losses.

The 5 Holes got the scoring started a little more than two minutes into the game as Matt Ray fought off Ben Sumner and wristed the puck past Squirrels goaltender Bob Sewell. A little more than six minutes later, The 5 Holes intercepted an airborne puck in front of the net and Chris Wautel tapped it in for a 2-0 lead. With two minutes to go in the period, Jeff Ford netted his 17th of the season, and the teams went into the break with a 2-1 score.

Two and a half minutes into the second period, Rob Myers tied the game with a shot in front of the net. On the very next shift, Ford gave the Squirrels the lead with a low shot through a screen past 5-Holes goaltender Brandon Miller. At 9:27 of the second period, Ford sent a perfect cross-rink pass to Sumner, who effortlessly tapped in the puck to put the Squirrels up 4-2. The 5 Holes cut the lead to 4-3 with 8:21 remaining, but the Squirrels held on for the victory.

The Squirrels played without Matt Borlik, Phil Van der Vossen, Don Marks, Chi Pham and Juan Canchasto. The Squirrels outshot The 5 Holes, 20-17.

The next game is Wednesday, July 12, at 8:30 p.m. against the Chupacabras.

Squirrels 6, Chupacabras 5

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In a rematch of last season’s finalists, the Squirrels and Chupacabras were at each other’s throats Wednesday, battling to a 1-1 tie in the first period before the Squirrels scored five in the second period for a 6-2 victory.

The Chupacabras got the scoring started at 3:32 of the first period, while giving Squirrels goaltender Bob Sewell several more tough shots to deal with along the way. Then Kit Watson finally put the Squirrels on the board a minute and a half later with a burst of speed through the zone.

A minute into the second period, defenseman Chi Pham took a beautiful slap shot from the right point, which deflected off of Ed Bager and into the net to give the Squirrels the advantage. Another minute later, Tony Richelsen — playing his first game of the season after sitting out ten games with a hand injury — scored unassisted, and was careful not to high-five anyone afterward.

The Chupacabras cut the score to 3-2 a couple of minutes later, but then Pham took another slap shot from nearly the same spot at the point. This time, the puck went in without being deflected.

Jeff Ford scored his team-leading 16th goal middway through the second period, and Ben Sumner added his 10th of the season with three minutes to play.

In his fourth season as a Squirrel, Watson finally got called for a penalty, a holding infraction with two minutes to play in the game against one of the best players on the Chupacabras roster. Little was lost, however, as the other player also got a penalty — for roughing.

The shots on goal were dead even, as both teams took 12 in the first period and 9 in the second. The Squirrels played without Juan Canchasto. Phil Van der Vossen left the game early with an injury.

The next game is Wednesday, June 28, at 8:30 p.m. against The 5 Holes.

Squirrels 8, Storm 0

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Playing the winless Storm for the third time this season, the Squirrels had every reason to believe that they would easily win again Thursday, but the game remained scoreless for the first 7:30. Then Jeff Ford — one of the top goal scorers in the league — took over, netting three in a row while leading the Squirrels to an 8-0 romp.

After Ford’s natural hat trick, Ben Sumner scored two in a row, both assisted by Ed Bager, and the Squirrels had a 5-0 lead after the first period. In the second period, Ford scored two more, forcing a running clock with 13:30 remaining in the game. Chris Long got the final goal with about six minutes remaining.

Aside from the scoring, the game featured five misconducts, two on the Squirrels and three on Storm.

Bob Sewell made 10 saves for his first shutout of the season as the Squirrels posted 23 shots on net. Don Marks, Matt Borlik, Juan Canchasto, Kit Watson and Tony Richelsen missed the game for the Squirrels.

The next game is Wednesday, June 21, at 8:30 p.m. against the Chupacabras, the team the Squirrels beat in the championship game last season.

Squirrels 7, Enigma 2

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Playing their first game ever against Enigma on Tuesday, the Squirrels managed a 2-1 lead by the half before blowing open the game for a 7-2 victory.

Wearing the taboo jersey no. 99 (because it was the spare one that the Squirrels ordered), Juan Canchasto felt added pressure to put up some points, and did. With a few nifty moves to fake out the goaltender, Canchasto got the scoring started two minutes into the first period. Enigma tied the game five minutes later, but with 24 seconds remaining in the period, Ed Bager scored on a backhand shot to give the Squirrels the lead again.

In the second period, Canchasto scored his second goal from behind the net as the puck bounced off of a defender and went in. Enigma cut the score to 4-2 with a power play goal, but it was all Squirrels after that. Jon Magi, Ben Sumner, Kit Watson and Desi Richelsen contributed to the five-goal second period.

The Squirrels put up 23 shots on net. Enigma, the only team so far to beat first place Silver Spring, had 10 shots against Squirrels goaltender Bob Sewell.

The Squirrels played without Tony Richelsen, Don Marks, Matt Borlik, Rob Myers, and Jeff Ford.

The next game is Thursday, June 15, at 8:30 p.m. against Storm, a team still winless in the division.

Silver Spring 4, Squirrels 1

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Playing their first game ever against the one-time B-league team Silver Spring on Tuesday, the Squirrels got their shots but fell convincingly, 4-1.

Silver Spring started off strong in the first period, putting up 18 shots and scoring three times. The Squirrels only put up nine shots in the first frame. Silver Spring increased their lead with a power play goal off of a face off late in the second period. With five seconds remaining, Kit Watson finally put the Squirrels on the board to spoil Silver Spring goaltender Bill Coluzzi’s shutout bid. The Squirrels outshot Silver Spring 14-6 in the second period, but Coluzzi made several quality saves.

The Squirrels played without Don Marks, Matt Borlik and Phil Van der Vossen, who had an incident with his cat wetting his equipment.

The next game is Tuesday, June 6, at 8:30 p.m. against Enigma, another team the Squirrels haven’t played yet, but the only one to beat Silver Spring this season.