Both teams felt the presence of Lollapalooza as the Liners top scorer, Kaner Jr ($63), failed to return from the shows. The Blades also had their share of buzzed skaters. Once the scoring got started for the Liners, the Blades became easily annoyed. This was exacerbated by Donna ($20) and McClain ($22) which resulted in two goals. Their frustration would prove to be fruitless as the Liners snared their 14th win of the season.
Scoring began early in the first period for the Red Liners. Toe ($63) sniped a cross slot pass to The Voice ($53) who easily one-timed it into the empty net. The Blades awoke from their drunken funk and fought back more offensive attacks by the Red Liners. There would be no further scoring in the period especially with Double D ($41) and Dirky ($7) grinding along the boards.
Pauley ($59) also restarting the scoring early in the second period. Wide open in the mid-slot, he one-timed Toe’s pass to him into the upper part of the net. The Blades would respond by scoring their only goal of the game after trouble clearing the puck by the Liners. In the closing minutes of the period, The Voice notched back-to-back goals with a laser-guided wrister into the upper net as well as a diving empty net after the Blade netminder played the puck behind the net.
The third period began with ninety seconds remaining on a Blades penalty. MK ($13) popped in the puck left by the Blades goalie skate off a shot from Toe. With running clock, the D continued to strangle the Blades scoring attempts. They all got into the offensive play to further grow the goal differential esecially Sobo ($55) and Davey ($22). The Blades appeared to get more frustrated as they crosscheck more Liners from behind. Bigfield ($60) masterfully blocked and gloved the minimal shots that got to him. Mixy ($22) and B-hole ($20) had great attempts to increase the score. The final goal was a bit of a surprise for everyone. While they were unsure if a penalty had occurred, the puck was dropped and The Voice clanged it off the crossbar and into the net.
With the win, the Red Liners sit at 14-2-0-1. This secures them at least first or second place in their C2 South Division. Regardless of the season outcome, the Johnny’s Ice House’s salary cap of $714 will be tough to stay under for the next season. The Liners hope to win it all before likely major trades are done in the off season and salaries are going up for several players. Others will become unrestricted free agents. Their next game is against an old foe, the Butchers Union, on Wed, Aug 5 at 11:10pm at JIH East.