When the Squirrels barely beat Silver Spring last week, they attributed it to Silver Spring having only one substitute. On Thursday, Silver Spring had a full bench, yet the Squirrels skated away with a convincing 4-1 victory.

Kit Watson got the scoring started with a spin-o-rama backhand shot that trickled in at 12:30 of the first period. At 7:07, Desi Richelsen exited the penalty box, skated directly toward the net, got a pass from Don Marks and shot it in to put the Squirrels up 2-0 on the power play. Two minutes later, Rob Myers put the Squirrels up 3-0 on another power play. The Squirrels killed a brief two-man advantage for Silver Spring before one of its players got nailed with a two-minute penalty and a misconduct.

Midway through the second period, Watson scored on a half-rink slapshot to put the Squirrels up 4-0. At 5:47 of the second period, Silver Spring was called for tripping Ed Bager. Glad he got the call, Bager pumped his fist and said “Yes!” The referee then called him for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, perhaps the most bizarre call the Squirrels have ever taken. Silver Spring broke Bob Sewell’s shutout bid on a power play with 1:35 remaining.

Silver Spring and the Squirrels each had 22 shots on net, 8 in the first period, 14 in the second. Sewell made 21 saves. The Squirrels played without Tony Richelsen, Matt Borlik, Chris Long, and Jeff Ford, who was serving a one-game suspension for his kneeing penalty in Wednesday’s game against Enigma.

The last game of the regular season is Tuesday, at 8:30 p.m. against Mors ab Alto. The Squirrels can still finish in third place with a victory, or if Enigma loses to the Bullhawks on Wednesday.

The Squirrels got a gift Thursday against first-place Silver Spring by having to face only six of its players, including the goaltender. By the time the game was over, Silver Spring had little gas left in the tank and the Squirrels escaped with a 6-4 victory.

The win didn’t come easy, however, as Silver Spring went up 4-2 early in the second half before the Squirrels scored four in a row. Contributing to the difficulty were six minor penalties – two of which overlapped to give Silver Spring two-man advantages.

Silver Spring scored first at 15:31, but Rob Myers’ low slap shot from the top of the left circle tied the game a couple of minutes later. Silver Spring scored on its first two-man advantage at 11:25. About five minutes later, the Squirrels tied the game 2-2 as Jon Magi took a pass from Myers and wristed the puck into the net. Silver Spring scored its second power play goal with 35 seconds remaining in the period to go up 3-2 at the break.

Early in the second period, Silver Spring extended its lead to 4-2, but 30 seconds later, the comeback was on. Juan Canchasto collected Desi Richelsen’s pass and shot the puck in from an awkward angle to cut the score to 4-3. Midway through the period, Don Marks made a pretty move around a defender to tie the game at 4-4 while shorthanded. Kit Watson sunk a long slap shot through several players to put the Squirrels back on top with 4:44 to go. Less than a minute later, Ben Sumner and Jeff Ford argued over which one of them should take a left-side faceoff in the offensive zone. Sumner insisted that Ford take it, and he did, knocking down two players and scoring to put the Squirrels up 6-4 while on their only power play.

Silver Spring had the shot advantage, 28-26, including 17-12 in the first half. Bob Sewell made several great saves down the stretch for the Squirrels. Chi Pham played offense instead of his usual position at defense. Tony Richelsen, Chris Long, Ed Bager, Phil Van der Vossen missed the game for the Squirrels.

The next game is Wednesday, August 9, at 8:30 p.m. against Enigma. The Squirrels also will face Silver Spring again Thursday, August 10, at 7:30 p.m.

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.