Monday January 25, 2010 – Milton Academy

The Kings offense exploded in the third, tallying three goals in less than 3 minutes and climbing out of 3-1 hole to claim victory over the division leading Maple Leafs. After being shut out the previous game, the Kings managed just a single goal in the first two periods on Monday and it looked like more of the same until Pete notched a goal with a pretty redirect off a Bermy shot on the power play. Paul scored just moments later and off the ensuing faceoff, Fran got the gamewinner. The Kings overcame a sluggish start; after Alan scored midway through the first to erase an early Maple Leafs lead, the Kings fell into some ill-disciplined play as the Leafs buzzed around and eventually staked a 3-1 lead. It may have been worse had it not been for Ed, who despite the 3 scores was in vintage form with some sick kickouts and glove and shoulder saves. After the comeback, the Kings were able to hold off a furious late game attack from the Leafs, including a solid stretch with the goalie on the bench with a minute left. The Kings escaped some close calls and managed to softly scale it out of the zone as time expired to secure the win.

Next game is two weeks from today – keep the legs going during the break!

The Kings overcame a sluggish start, scoring the final four goals of the game to defeat the Brown Club at Walter Brown on Tuesday night.  John opened the scoring cruising in on an odd man rush with speed.  The goalie got a piece, but it was a blast and the puck continued on into the net.  The Brown Club was able to slip the next two goals past Keith, but overall their chances were limited and Keith was up to the task.  Few rebounds to speak of.
With the Kings down one goal half way through the second period, the turning point came when Burger fought the biggest guy on the other team.  Burger got taken down hard with a trip, came up swinging, and somehow lost his helmet.  Both players were ejected, but the Kings capitalized on the resulting power play.  After John just missed a good chance out front, John won a face-off back to Fran who put it low and hard on net.  Ian jammed the rebound home and the Kings carried the play the rest of the night.  Paul scored the game winner top shelf glove side early in the third.  Jeff scored another top shelf glove side on the backhand a couple minutes later.  Alan closed out the scoring tipping in a loose puck that was sitting right on the post. 
One of the rare nights when the Kings spent less time in the penalty box than the opposition.  The game remained chippy the rest of the way with several roughing penalties for each side.  The Kings were glad to depart with the victory, and get to pounding beers in the BU dungeon.
Kings need a strong showing next week for another battle with the Pirates.  Who is in?  Who is out?

(Sorry if I didn’t remember everything correctly, I tried.)
After several frustrating losses to the Pirates (both this season and season’s past), the Kings were finally able to break through and defeat the short-benched Pirates 3-1 on Tuesday night, at the new and improved Dedham rink.  The ice was hard and the scoreboard is HUGE!  The heat was even on in the locker room!  This game also featured the triumphant return of the entire Hingham bus, including the newlywed Pete, and Wally’s healed knee.
The Kings surrendered the first goal of the game about halfway through the first period off a neutral zone turnover.  A Pirate forward scooped up the loose puck, picked up speed across the blue line, and fired a tricky low shot past Ed.  The night featured many solid efforts by every King, but without Ed’s stellar goaltending we would have been super fucked.  Ed’s best save came earlier in the first.  I had attempted to reverse the puck behind the net to Greg, and I was able to get the puck past the forechecker, but it deflected off the referee right to the forechecker, who dished it across the crease for a golden scoring opportunity.  Ed went post to post to make the save without a rebound.  The Pirates would have multiple scoring opportunities the rest of the night, including a top of the circle slapshot blast that was saved with Ed’s mask.  But solid team defense kept helped fuel the Kings comeback.
Fran banged home the Kings first goal into an open cage later in the first period.  The Pirate goalie was forced to play the puck in the corner and dove back into the crease to prevent an empty net goal, but perhaps overplayed his dive back putting him out of position again.  Fran and Jeff swiped the puck and Fran wasted no time with his slapshot.
The second period was scoreless, but the Kings had many excellent scoring opportunities on several power plays.  Kings were really flying there for several shifts.  Rolling twelve Kings against seven Pirates wore them down.  The game winning goal was the result of a perfectly executed offensive zone faceoff where every King on the ice touched the puck.  The draw was won cleanly back to Greg at the left point.  Two Pirate wings came out to pressure Greg, who dished the puck over to my point.  Seeing more pressure coming, I quickly chopped the bouncing puck over to Paul in the top of the slot, who shoveled it along to Ian camped out at the top of the cease, and he made no mistake.  Fran added an insurance goal shortly thereafter.  Bob received the only assist on the play, but Ed should get a phantom assist for hustling to the bench and allowing Jeff to be the extra attacker, which certainly contributed to the goal.
The Pirates attempted to slip in an extra player (some would say ringer – #51 Hall) at some point in the third period, but Fran noticed that bullshit and alerted the refs.  It is the regular season and it fortunately did not affect the outcome of the game, but still, LAME!  The Pirates weren’t able to get any closer and the game ended without incident.  However, it should be noted that the tall guy in red pants attempted to run me from behind with about 2 seconds left in a two goal game with the puck in the corner.  If he tried that shit on Bermy it would have been a brawl.  Luckily I turned the right direction and he went hard into the boards.  But that shit is bogus and won’t be forgotten.  I’m sure their coach is refreshing the Kings page right now waiting to scout our updates, so wise up.
Great win.  Couldn’t have won without everyone contribution.  Happy New Year!  Let us know if you cannot make it next week?  Will it be two in a row for the Hingham bus?

Wednesday December 23, 2009 – UMass Boston

The Kings posted back-to-back wins over Schneiders, this time silencing their offense in a 4-0 shutout. The Kings were able to roll two full lines and a floater, and the extra manpower helped keep the opposition off the board the entire game. Ed was once again sharp on the few chances he saw, earning a well-deserved zero GA. Josh tallied twice and opened the scoring, scooping a loose puck near the left corner of the crease, and the Kings power play had plenty of good chances as Schneiders couldn’t stay out of the penalty box. On the opening faceoff of one of those PPs at the left dot in the offensive zone, Greg won the draw clean back to Frank on the left point, who dished it to Mike Rizzitano for the next score. Ian buried a shot at the top of the crease on a feed from Paul in the right corner, and Josh closed out the scoring with a top-shelf shot.

I have the latest stats, and will probably post them over the weekend if not sooner.

The next game is Tuesday 12/29, 9:00pm in Dedham against the Pirates. I’m out for that game. Paul has the water and Greg has the pucks – if you guys want to keep up stats, someone be sure to grab the scoresheet and check numbers after the game. Good luck guys, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.