January 23 Game Report

Not unlike the legendary Federal League Championship meeting of the Charlestown Chiefs and the Syracuse Bulldogs from Slap Shot, there was a carnival like atmosphere with a certain air of expectancy in the building Saturday nite at Lakeshore with a capacity crowd on hand for the 10th Annual STORM game. The Greece Arcadia/Olympia Lightning played host to their rival, the Greece Athena/Odyssey Thunder and having come up short in their last ten meetings, Lightning wanted this game in the worst way. Well, they decorated the rink and they got their wish as they emerged a 2-1 winner after a hard fought battle. And so, Thunder's ten-game reign and five-year stranglehold over the coveted STORM trophy has finally come to an end with their STORM record now sitting now at 5-3-2.

Emotions ran the gamut from Lightning seniors shedding tears of joy after beating Thunder for the first time in their HS career to Thunder seniors bent down on one knee all verclempt over the ride coming to a screeching halt. Or perhaps they were disappointed about losing the game they had dedicated to a fellow student who is courageously battling Leukemia. Her name is Mel Simmons and she is a senior at Athena. Coach Webb's perspective is that the reality of saturday night was that it was a hard fought game, the kids played well but came up short. What they succeeded in doing that is far higher of a success than winning the trophy was in the fact that they brought a community together and they showed support for someone that is trying to win an even bigger game called LIFE. Whether the boys realize it or not, when they donned orange on their skates, socks, pads, helmets and sticks, they made Mel, her family and her close friends proud to be a part of it all. Many thunder fans, like Jim Cumming, sported orange in the stands also, as we raised over $200 for Mel's cause through 50/50 sales.

Seems there was more action in the stands during the first period than there was on the ice, what with all the organized cheering and flag waving. Someone from the Lightning camp would run through the stands waving their flag and then the Thunder mascots would follow suit. With only 19 seconds to go in the period, Bobby Drexler lit the lamp for the Lightning, assisted by Tyler Hickey to open the scoring.

Coming off a solid first frame, Steve Hebberect flexed his muscle along the boards early in the second, tossing his check aside to grab the handle and wind up the breakout. Grims logged a nice harry. And then just under 5 minutes in, Vyper took charge warding off the Lightning's forecheck and feathering a backhand pass out to center for Matt Keough who would deliver the mail, beating Opladen low stick side on the breakaway for the equalizer. Cumming picked up an assist on the play which is not something you see everyday! Three and a half later Robbie Cammilleri took a feed from Kenny Curtis, assisted by David Powlowski, and split the D to net the eventual winner for the Lightning.

Mills tried his hand at the harry thing in the third and then Hebs served up the Gordita Crunch of the game upending former Thunder player Sean Bihrle and sending him reeling into the stantion at the end of the glass. Thankfully Bihrle got right up but that hit will most definitely make the greatest hits highlight reel at the end of season banquet. Cheese dropped Lightning's Heintzelman who is a big boy in his right but it was a simple matter of weight ratios that sealed his fate. With 1.07 left in the game Thunder called a timeout returning with the extra attacker in hopes of righting the ship, but it was not meant to be and Thunder's record slid another notch to 6-5-2-1.

Hats off to the Lightning for proving to be a formidable foe, although the perspective from the bench was that at times it seemed like the Lightning fans got a little carried away heckling, booing, and shouting with profanity, whereas the Thunder camp took the high road and conducted themselves in a respectful manner. Kudos to our fans!

Shots were essentially even up at 21-20 to Lightning's favor. First star of the game goes to Lightning's Josh Opladen with 19 saves for the win, although he nearly dropped the STORM trophy after the ceremony in which case I would have deducted style points and gone with Ian Cumming who made 19 saves for the Thunder. Second star goes to speedy Rob Cammilleri with the winner for the Lightning. Third star goes to Steve Hebberect with a complete effort start to finish including a nice pair of hits.