Off the ice, the Red Liners and Butchers Union support each others charity and community involvement. On the ice, its a completely different stories. The rivalry was even more heated with Bigfield moving to the Liners because of a better contract. In classic Liners fashion, the game’s momentum would swing back and forth and culminate in a shootout.
The first period was all Liners as The Druck would score two goals. His first was a wrister off Tyty’s rebound. HIs second was a laser slapshot off the far post. Instant replay was unclear if it was deflected by B-hole. They were also unable to score on their first powerplay of the game. However, the Butchers kept the action moving, seeming tiring out some of the Liners.
The guys in red did seem to slow down as the second period progressed but did manage to keep the scoring up. Tyty would benefit from a favorable rebound this time as he picked up the bounce off B-hole’s shot on the side of the net. At this point, things started to turn bad for the LIners. The Butchers would score two quick goals off their quick odd man rushes. But Easy E would temporarily halt their momentum with a rocket-type long slapshot that flew over the Butcher’s netminder’s blocker and into the upper net. The opponents in white scored the final goal of the period by again crashing the net. Also in the period, one Butchers’ player would have to leave the ice after having a possible dislocated shoulder.
Now being only up one goal, running out of energy, and losing the momentum, the Liners regrouped for a final push at the Butchers. Things were looking good after Paul put in a rebound into the empty net off Baby’s near sided shot. But a the Liners’ first penalty would lead to a powerplay goal. With the goal difference back to one, the Butchers’ (down one player) came at the Liners even harder. The Liners had a difficult time gaining some offensive traction as they had to kill two more penalties. The Butchers finally tied it up with just 4 minutes left to play. The Liners did have an opportunity for the win with another powerplay but could not capitalize on it.
Because of the tie score, a shootout was held. The Butchers shot first and got a lucky break as the shot was blocked but then rolled just past Bigfield. Easy E started for the Liners and fired an easy shot into the empty Butchers’ net after freezing their goalie. Bigfield stopped the second Butchers’ shooter. Tyty tried the same move that Easy E had done but couldn’t close the deal. Bigfield stopped the third Butchers’ shooter as well. Baby skated for the win and fired a blazing wrist shot into the far upper corner of the net.
This season’s start is an improvement over last season’s 0-1-1. With some players possibly not at their best, the Liners still managed the win. More work will need to be done by all to help with back-checking and getting more pucks to the net. Their next game is against the FOP Stars-C3 at 2:50pm, Sat. Sept 21 at JIH East.