Hot 99'ers cool off Stars
October 30, 2011 - GRAZ - After getting home the night before around 10 PM, 12 hours later the Vans would depart for another road Game. The Graz 99'ers would be the opponent on this day and just like the night before the Stars would come out with a bang but it would be Graz on the second shift of the game to counter and put a puck past Dieber who had some special fans in the crowd. The Stars who have been playing good Hockey as of late responded 2 minutes later with Hugo Jansons ripping a big shot past the goalie and impressing the 99'ers coach and fellow Latvian Haralds Vasiljevs. The tempo was again high and the game really flowing. At the 11 minute mark Mark Flamand with a great individual rush split two defenders and put a backhand behind Rasip to give the Stars a 2-1 lead after one.
The Second period was a bit of a gong show. The nice flow of the game was broken up with some penalties. The bad news was all penalties were against the Stars. Not just one but six in a row. The Stars would have to play the first 12 minutes of the period short handed and that cost us alot of energy. We did a great job killing allowing only one PP goal on the Six attempts. But that stretch cost of strength and eventually the game. Graz was coming harder and beating us to the pucks forcing turnovers which would lead to the eventual game winner as the Stars first line would lose some one on one battles allowing the 99'ers to attack the net 2 v 1. It was a nice pass to the back door and Trost would only have to hit the open net. 3-2 Graz after two periods. The Third period and for almost half of the team being their 3rd game in 24 hours it was starting to show, but only a little. However that little difference would be too much in the end. After Dieber made a tremendous save on a cross ice pass, the puck unfortunately jumped out of his glove right to Gjoni standing in the crease. The Stars had to open up their game and try to generate more offense to get back in the game but this also leaves you prone to counter opportunites and even though we had great chances from Rodnov, Zitz, Bartenbach and Dieber there would be no more scoring for the Stars on this night. Graz would add one more to make the final 5-2. All in all another great game for the Jr. Varsity Stars.
Coach Comments: What can I say, it was another great game for our boys, we lost a couple of 1 on 1 battles but we also created a lot of scoring chances. Some games they go in others they don't but we are getting a lot of net pressure that we weren't getting at the beginning of the season, so it's very positive to see the team come together. We still have a couple of players who don't seem to understand our Defensive zone coverage but we will continue to work on that. For the most part we are playing a much more efficient game. I love the attitude on the ice and I see our team getting better, sure it's frustrating for the boys to lose the game but again it's the effort that counts and again tonight we played right til the final buzzer.
GRAZ:LA2 5:2 (1:2,2:0,2:0)
