Friday, December 5, 2008

Scorpions 8, Gorillas 2


For 40 minutes, this was a hard-fought, well-contested divisional game. Although the third period by no means followed that script, you certainly won't hear me complaining. This was finally the performance the Scorpions were looking for the follow up last week's win at Oklahoma City.

Observations:
  • Congrats to John Mazzei on a hard-earned hat trick. His first goal was an absolutely beautiful setup and I have no idea how he scored his second, but it just seemed to be one of those nights for speedy No. 10. The irony in all of this is that I did a phone interview with Mazzei yesterday, and one of the big things he said was that his adjustment to the pro game was coming along a lot slower than he wanted, and that he wished he were putting up more points. Well, ask and you shall receive!
  • Jason Wolfe was once again on fire in goal. He very well could have had his second consecutive shutout if not for a couple fortunate bounces that went Joe Guenther's way. He continues to see the puck well and, for the first time this season, his teammates are helping him out too. Oh, and that post-to-post save he made in the third off the feed from Sam Ftorek? WOW
  • I'm just going to copy and paste my previous statements to all Seth Leonard doubters. The guy was all over the place out there and probably should have had a hat trick of his own. He's now up to 13 points in his last 6 games
  • My hat's off to Tyler Fuller. That was the ultimate team play to stick up for Lyon Messier after Weitzel drilled him hard into the boards in the second. I'm sure Weitzel was hurting for more than just those 5 minutes from the whipping Fuller gave him
  • Speaking of Messier, a respectable Scorpions debut for the 21-year-old. There were a few places where he didn't quite seem to be on board with Randy Murphy's systems, but you can't expect much with just a few days' practice under his belt. He looked pretty solid on both PP and PK, and he even showed that he's happy to stand up for himself against Lynes. I'd have to score that round 10-9 for Lynes, but it was good to see Messier get fired up.
  • Torren Delforte picked a nice time and and even nicer way to break out of his mini scoring slump. The way he was putting up points early on, I didn't think we'd see a four-game pointless streak from this kid all season. Great job by the rookie to get back on track
  • I think it's safe to say that tommorow night's game could be pretty chippy. Nick Theriault was a thorn in the Scorps' side all night, and while he had a few good, clean hits (namely that crunch on Leonard in the third) he pulled a few fast ones too (namely a cross-check to the chin of Mitch Stephens that went uncalled)
Elsewhere:

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