Another One in the Bag

Mar. 11, 2006

We're in San Mateo for our last home game of the season. We're behind in the standings and looking to prove we belong in the final four. It's a clear, sunny morning, but this feels critical. No time for nerves. Home crowd. Home ice. Let's just go in and get it done.

TriValley is here for the same reason. They need this win and want it as badly as we do.

The puck drops. We look a little nervous. Things shake off fairly quickly and take a turn for the better when Stephen Fragoza finds Ryan Glowniak, and he scores a beautiful goal at 7:46 in the first period.

SCORE Cougars 1 - TriValley 0

We continue the pressure and it pays off. Stephen Paulazzo finds Matthew Hopper, and Matt finds the back of the net.

SCORE Cougars 2 - TriValley 0

The first period ends with the shot count at 11-6. A good start on a tough game.

The boys are continuing to work it hard in the second. They're taking opportunities and making things happen. TriValley's favorite goalie is showing signs of trouble.

Kyle Kiaski pins his opponent behind our net, leaving the puck open for our D, who in passes it to Kevin Kiaski, who breaks it out to Alex Ochowicz. Kevin rushes the net in time to receive the return from Alex and put it in the upper left corner.

SCORE Cougars 3 - TriValley 0

We're not satisified and ready to settle yet. We want a strong goal differential. Even on the penalty kill, we continue to pressure. Brad Cecil manages to feed it to Alex Ochowicz, and Alex finds the back of the net to post the 4th goal in the game.

SCORE Cougars 4 - TriValley 0

TriValley is trying. They're rushing at Caleb Murray, but Caleb has some gorgeous saves. He's smiling and solid. The buzzer for the second finally blares, and the shot count has tightened to 19-17.

Early in the third, TriValley manages to get one in the net. This seems to reenergize them, but we continue to dominate. They even tried pulling their goalie to get an extra skater on the ice. It didn't help, but it also didn't hurt. We couldn't find the back of the empty net. The final buzzer blares and the score remains...

SCORE Cougars 4 - TriValley 1

The complete shot count tells all, 30-18 in our favor.

SWEET  finish on home ice. No one comes to our house and gets the advantage except us.

Now, one more to get to Norcal. Let's take a strong game into Logitech and finish the job we've started. One final word of wisdom to carry in with you, Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to produce uncommon results.

Let's go show everyone what it means to be a
Together
Everyone
Achieves
More
Get this right, and earn the opportunity to do it again next weekend...

Scoring Summary
Team	Shots	Goals
Cougars Blue Devils	30 [ 11:08:11 ] 18 [ 06:11:01 ]	4 [ 2:2:0 ] 1 [ 0:0:1 ]
Penalties Recorded
Team	Number	Minutes
Cougars Blue Devils	06 [ 01:01:04 ] 03 [ 01:01:01 ]	12 [ 02:02:08 ] 06 [ 02:02:02 ]

Ryan Glowniak, assisted by Stephen Fragoza, at 7:46 in the first period.

Matthew Hopper, assisted by Stephen Paulazzo, at 3:28 in the first.

Kevin Kiaski, assisted by Alex Ochowicz, at 12:23 in the second.

Alex Ochowicz, assisted by Brad Cecil, at 9:09 in the second.

Goaltender Caleb Murray saved 17/18 shots.