The Heartland Red Liners went back on the ice one week ago with a slightly compressed lineup. Their first matchup against the Snatchers was a difficult affair because of their short, 8 person bench. Things started out poorly as the Snatchers scored just 12 seconds into the game. But the Liners composed themselves and came back charging by scoring with 2 minutes left in the game as ThomThom poked in the loose rebound from Captain Seck’s wrist shot. The Snatchers would regain the lead late in the second period and carry that lead into most of the third period. But a scramble by the Liners with 3 minutes left to play in the game lead to a tying goal. Jake the Snake put in the rebound off Evan’s shot attempt. Thinking that the game would end up in OT, the tired Liners tried to hold on. Unfortunately, the Snatchers had other plans by scoring two goals within 20 seconds of each other to take the 4-2 win.
The Red Liners played their second game last night against the always tough Whalers. Now with 13 players, the more fortified bench matched up well initially against these opponents. However, things began to sour late in the first period. The Whalers would pop in two goals within the last 5 minutes. Their scoring would continue with 2 more within 12 seconds early in the second period and 3 more goals within 2 minutes late in the second period.The only goal by the LIners would be early in the third period after Morty, PJ, and Loko crashed the net multiple times. The rebound drifted into the mid slot where MK fired it into the open net. The Whalers would pop in 2 more goals before the end of the game.