Outlaws Head into Holiday Break with a Tie
by Mike Unterreiner
Playing without the team’s leading scorer, Joe Wallington, who suffered a cut on his chin in practice a few days earlier, the Outlaws battled to a 2-2 tie against the Eagles Sunday night at Webster Groves. The games wrapped up the 2008 portion of HNA’s schedule. The Outlaws head into a two-week holiday break with the unusual record of 3-2-3, an indication of how tight the competition is in this year’s B3 division.
The Outlaws have tied each of the IceDogs, Hornets and Eagles once, and have played a one-goal game against each team. (The Hornets actually scored an empty-net goal to make the final score a two-goal margin, but it was a one-goal game until the Outlaws pulled their goalie.) The only games where there was greater than a one-goal margin heading into the third period were the two contests against the Shock, which the Outlaws won by two and three goals.
At the break, the Hornets stand in first place with 12 points, and the Shock and Outlaws are tied for second with 9 apiece. The Eagles have 6 points in fourth place. The IceDogs have picked up the pace in the past month, and now have 5 points after losing their first 4 games. Every game figures to be tightly contested in the second half of the season, with all playoff spots and the coveted trip to the national finals in Toronto up for grabs.
The Outlaws began the game with only 10 skaters, and an entire other forward line showed up over the course of the first period. Wallington’s usual linemate Sean McCloskey arrived a touch late, having just finished playing another game in a Sunday night league at Chesterfield. If he was tired from the extra skating, it did not show, as McCloskey hustled his way into earning a penalty shot, then scored both goals for the Outlaws.
The first period of Sunday’s game was played without scoring thanks to Outlaw goalie Craig Schellenbach, who was called upon to make 9 saves while the Outlaws posted only one shot. The Eagles notched the first goal of the game midway through the second period, as Dave Stanley with assists from Jeff Wolfangel and Jeff Fields. A couple of minutes later, after missing on his penalty shot, McCloskey scored an unassisted goal to tie the game at one.
The Outlaws again proved vulnerable to shorthanded goals with Wolfangel in the penalty box for high sticking, as Elia Ellis scored for the Eagles with an assist from Fields. Before the second period ended, the Eagles had another shorthanded opportunity with Mitch Jacobs in the box for interference. But a quick shot rang off the crossbar and settled just outside the Outlaws goal as time expired in the period. The Outlaws were outshot 19-8 through two periods, and outscored 2-1.
In the third period, the Outlaws turned the tables, outshooting the Eagles 10-4, and getting the tying goal from McCloskey with five minutes to go in regulation. Ryan Kromann picked up the only assist. The Outlaws continued to have the better of the play, and the Eagles Mark Perkins picked up a tripping penalty with 1:50 left in the third. But neither team was able to score through the remainder of regulation or overtime.
The Outlaws kick off the 2009 portion of the schedule on Monday, January 5th against the IceDogs. Game time is 9:45 at Kirkwood. After tying the Outlaws without their leading scorer Pavel Nadin in the two teams’ last meeting, the IceDogs outscored their opposition 9-5 and skated to a 2-1 record against the rest of the division in the month of December.
|
