February 4 Game Report

Music was good, 50/50 sales were brisk and the anthem was solid, but Thunder was not. They stunk up the joint with a rather sloppy performance and ended up taking a 4-1 non-div loss to Fairport on the chin Thursday nite at Lakeshore. Would you like some fruit or whipped cream with your turnovers? Why is it that Thunder cannot seem to get up for their non-div games (1-3-1-1 thus far)? And why were the refs not up for the game? Was it because they were pregnant that they missed a couple of periods? I know we are not supposed to get down on the refs based on my soap box speech after the B-Port game, but it seemed like an off game for the stripes taking a routine high sticking call they bungled out to center ice and then there was the hardly a roughing call on Grimmy for letting Fairport know it was not cool to snow our goalie. How about that 3 meter dive by the goalie snower which the refs chose to ignore? This of course prompted a "nice dive louganis" from the Thunder camp, compliments of Dan Miller. The game was officiated by two of the more senior and well respected refs in town, which just goes to show you, anyone can have an off nite if they mail it in or bring anything less than their A game. I am sure we have all been there at one point or another in our lives. For all I know, some of you may find this report to be case in point!

Hockey gods had Thunder's back early when Thunder foreign exchange students Netsov and Cross-Barre teamed up to stave off what appeared to be an early pair of powerplay goals for Fairport. Soon the Red Raiders would take a turn in the sin bin but Greece killed their own powerplay by putting several nice passes right on the tape for Fairport. It was not until twelve twenty in that Thunder would finally get their act together, when John Clark made a good keep at the line for Curran O'Brien and O'Brien put the puck on net with some junk on it to beat McEvily low, assisted by Justin Simonelli, for his second score of the season. Clark logged his first varsity point on the play as well. Other than Cheese giving his check a close-up of the Thunder penalty box and Thunder's late marker, it was a sort of slack-luster first frame with only six shots a side.

Second stanza opened with a 5 on 3 for Fairport that Vypes, Hebs, and Cheese nearly killed off for Thunder, but Dylan Howatt would rally for the Red Raiders, assisted by Chris Button and Jon Kaminska, a couple of seconds shy of even strength being restored. Cheese pulled a Ganti (remember, the two legged block maneuver) during the almost kill with one too many revolutions, taking it on the back of the leg i believe but, like Mattle, Cheese eats nails for breakfast and it did not appear to phase him one bit. Vypes stepped up on a cross-ice attempt by Fairport and sat his check down as if to say NOT UP IN HERE. Fairport got the GAG me on the PP (Go Ahead Goal on the Power Play) with 2:39 to go in the second, while Grimmy was serving his hardly a rough call and Louganis was brushing the snow off his speedo on the Fairport bench. Chris Button got loose behind the Thunder D with a breakaway before the break but Cumming was equal to the task and stoned him. Thunder closed out the period killing off yet another one of their own powerplays.

Twenty four ticks into the third, William Cherry (any relation to Don?) would finish from just outside the paint, assisted by James Downs and Tim Modesti, to widen the gap to 3-1 for Fairport. We fudged up. We're not going to be number one in the state again losing battles in front of our own net like that. We gotta get this stuff together boys! Tyler Mattle showed his work ethic down the stretch generating a couple of QSCs but Thunder could not climb back into the contest. Greece took a timeout with 52 seconds to go in the game, yet Kaminska would find the empty net for Fairport to seal the deal at 4-1, assisted by James Downs.

Thunder's overall record slips to 8-6-3-1 but they remain second in the West (7-3-2) at least a point ahead of Brockport and AQ. With a win over AQ or IHS in one of their two remaining games Thunder can clinch second place in their division. What say you boys? What say you fans? Where has everybody been? Where did the season go? Only 2 games to go before sectionals. Can I get a yeah ThunDeeeerrrrrrrrr?