Written by Saturday evening, wait, I mean Saturday afternoon, the Flames played host to the NE Stars. The game was scheduled to begin at 6:10pm, according to the league website and the various calendar’s used by Flames families. Except that the game was really scheduled for 4:00pm. Thanks to the attendant on duty at the rink who called our coach to let him know that our team was missing from their own home game, we showed up, in increments, and managed to get the game played. I wasn’t there as I had committed to work until 5:30 or so, in order to still get to our 6:10 game, but thankfully our team’s parents reacted quickly, assembled enough of a team to begin play, and then added to the numbers as the game progressed. Interestingly enough, several Flames players were recorded as posting personal bests in the “getting dressed” category. Furthermore, the Flames rebounded from a tough loss earlier in the day and walked out of West Side Arena with a 5-1 win, all before their originally scheduled game time of 6:10pm. Let’s get to the action, of which I know nothing about, but I do have the score sheet and will reference that.
1st Period: True to the spirit of late arrivals, neither team scored a goal in the opening period. There were a few penalties called, but the excitement really stemmed from who would show up for the Flames and when.
2nd Period: The second period started with an early goal scored by Brendan Courtney who was assisted by Patrick Goren. Shortly thereafter, the NE Stars tied the game at 1-1, and eventually the period would end with that same tied score.
3rd Period: Now, looking at the score sheet, it appears as though the third period got a little bit crazy. First, the Flames were whistled for SIX penalties in the period, none of which were matching, nor did they allow a power play goal. This all adds up to being shorthanded for more than half of the period. Even so, the Flames erupted for four goals in the period and won going away. Sam Hebert scored a pair of unassisted goals, and then Zachary Bayer scored a goal set up by Ashlie Killen. Finally, Sean Moore scored a shorthanded goal with less than a minute to play, and the Flames had earned themselves a 5-1 victory.