Waaaar-rrrriors, Come Out to Plaaaay-yay!

The Dodos were riding high going into Sunday's game. With a seven-game winning streak and sole possession of first place, it appeared as though the Dodos were in control of the division, but for the second time this season Dodos Hockey (11-3) faced the Acme Warriors (9-4) and were defeated, 4-2.

Inspired by winning the first meeting, the Warriors came out and attacked the Dodos early and often, putting bodies on the Dodos and playing them tough. So tough in fact, the Warriors' goaltender (9 penalty minutes on the season and a menacing orange goatee, errrrgh, got the chills just thinking about it) took a swipe at Bryan Silvey barely more than a minute into the game. The Warriors struck first with a power-play goal following a tripping penalty by A.J. Tarpley. The Dodos had several good scoring chances in the first period, but couldn't seem to get one in and found themselves trailing 1-0 after one full period.

The second period left off the same as the first, only this period, the Warriors really hammered the Dodos' players. Early on, Jeff Hewitt found himself on the receiving end of a crosscheck to the face, falling to the ice and losing a glove in the process, but no whistle was blown. After the second time it happened to Hewitt in the period, the Dodos began to step up the physicality.

As Silvey tried to gain position near the Warriors' crease, a defender shoved him into the goalie, drawing a slashing penalty from the Warriors' net-minder. Silvey retaliated with a slash of his own and what followed was a fairly intense physical exchange between two Warriors and Silvey. When Silvey skated towards center-ice, a Warrior bumped him and as he spun around another Warrior hit him with the stick. Silvey and the Warrior squared up, the Warrior ran his mouth, Silvey knocked him to the ice and then both teams and the officials converged on the scene. The end result was a chipped tooth and three minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct for the Warriors' tough guy and 17 penalty minutes (3 slashing, 7 crosscheck and 7 for deliberate or attempt to injure opponent or game official) and an ejection and 30 day suspension for Silvey. There were no other penalties for the Warriors, but the referees definitely missed ejecting a Warrior for being the third man into the scuffle.

After all the smoke cleared, with less than two minutes remaining in the period, the Warriors added a second goal, closing out two periods with a 2-0 lead.

The Dodos opened the third period in desperation mode, starving for a goal after being shutout for two periods. The Warriors would score first however, scoring their third unanswered goal in as many periods. After offsetting penalties by Warriors' Bebo and Dodos' Blake Barroso, new team member Peter Thiessen took a pass from Mike Miner in the Dodos' zone, skated just inside the Warriors' blue line and scored a  scored his first goal of the season in his first game of the season as a Dodo.

Three minutes later, Dylan Mlcoch found himself in the penalty box for roughing and the Dodos were short-handed. In the Warriors' zone, Miner stole the puck and skated to the front of the net, only to have it poke-checked away. Matt Girt skated by, swooped up the loose puck, and managed to put it past the dirty goaltender, cutting the lead to 3-2.

With just under two minutes remaining in the game, the Dodos pulled goalie Chris Barrera and added an extra attacker. The Dodos' offense just missed on two scoring chances, but the Warriors put the game away after stealing the puck at center-ice and scoring an empty net goal to close the game out and hand the Dodos their first defeat in seven games.

The Dodos look to avenge their second loss of the season to the heavily hated Last Call (7-6) this Sunday, July 29 at 10PM.

See the highlight video here: http://youtu.be/oY2IFiD191k

Check the Box Score here: http://stats-live.com/iceoplexsimivalley/Game/BoxScore/1256 

DODOS CLAIM VICTORY IN THE BATTLE OF THE EXTINCT!

(Guest writer, Dodos' own, Jeff Hewitt)

While neither species exist in modern times, these two prehistoric creatures would square up for battle. One attempting to secure their position as the sole leader of the division, while the other was looking to rise up from the deathbed of extinction. 

The Dodos (10-2) would strike first on the mighty Mastodons (1-10-1) when A.J. Tarpley would turn sneak a wrister past the opposition’s goalie with a feed from Jeff Hewitt and Caleb McEvers. The tone was set, less then one minute later, Tarpley would return the favor and connect with Hewitt to take a 2-0 lead. 

The second period would start the same as the first. This time Hewitt would connect with Bryan Silvey on a breakaway. Silvey, all alone would catch the Mastodons goalie and his fellow Dodos by surprise, choosing to go five-hole and score an impressive goal. Later in the period, the Dodos' Blake Barroso would join in on the action with a goal of his own, stretching the lead to 4-0 by the end of the second period.

With the game somewhat out of reach for the Mastodons, the Dodos added a final goal.

This time Dylan Mlcoch would creatively sneak a bouncing puck past the opponent’s goalie marking the 5 score for the flightless birds. Dodos goalie Chris Barrera would continue his excellent play by shutting out the Mastodons and earning player of the game honors.

The last place Mastodons proved to be a lesser opponent for the league leading Dodos. Victory was expected, however the battle was well played and hard fought. This time David didn’t beat Goliath! 

Come support the Dodos (11-2) next Sunday the 22nd at 7:30PM as they try to avenge their first loss of the season to the 4th place Acme Warriors (8-4). 

Fantasy Stats: Chris Barrera, shutout 19 saves

                        Jeff Hewitt, 4 assists, 1 goal
                        A.J. Tarpley, 1 assist, 1 goal
                        Bryan Silvey, 1 assist, 1 goal
                        Dylan Mlcoch, 1 assist, 1 goal
                        Blake Barroso, 1 goal
                        Caleb Mcevers, 1 assist

View the boxscore here: http://stats-live.com/iceoplexsimivalley/Game/BoxScore/1328

Short-handed Dodos Win Sixth Straight!

Dodos Hockey was missing six players heading into Sunday's game against the rival Wings, including this season's leading scorer, team captain and an assistant captain. But what the Dodos (10-2) did have versus the Wings (3-9) was Pat Heninger. The Wings have hated Heninger for going-on three seasons now, with the hatred escalating during last season's championship series.

The Wings picked up right where they left off against Heninger, sending goon after goon his way, charging him, bumping him, tripping him with no whistle blown, doing whatever they could to disrupt his play and possibly get him to retaliate and force the line on the Dodos' depleted bench (three players) to get ever shorter. But Heninger defended the Wings' advances and scored the first goal of the game with a beautiful assist from Bryan Silvey. The Wings would close out the first period with two goals, however, taking a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

Heninger scored the lone goal in a whistle-filled second period, in which the Dodos found themselves in the box three times, while the Wings were only called for two penalties (ONLY is the key word). Nonetheless, the Dodos persevered and found themselves tied with the Wings at the end of two periods of play.

Third period action saw both teams putting shot after shot on goal, and following a James Lascala roughing penalty, Heninger scored an unassisted, power-play goal, giving him a hat trick and the Dodos the lead. Nine minutes later, Joe Madden skated into the Wings' zone and took a shot from just inside the blue line that went in to score. It was an insurance goal the Dodos surely needed because 13 seconds later, the Wings ran a four-on-two play to perfection, beating the defenders and goaltender Chris Barrera to cut the lead to 4-3.

The Dodos found themselves defending their zone for the remainder of the game, narrowly avoiding a couple goals during the Wings' attack to secure the victory and a six-game winning streak.

Watch the highlight video here: http://youtu.be/HaD19cMukMs

View the boxscore here: http://stats-live.com/iceoplexsimivalley/Game/BoxScore/1333

Dodos Hockey Wins Fifth Straight!

Dodos Hockey started the game versus Red Scare (4-6-1) four men short, but that didn't stop the Dodos (9-2) from winning their fifth straight game in convincing fashion, dominating the scoreboard with ten goals with hat tricks from Bryan Silvey and Matt Girt.

With barely a minute gone by in the opening period, Silvey scored his seventh goal of the season with a Dylan Mlcoch assist. The Dodos were outshot in the first period, 13-7, but one shot found it's way into the goal off the stick of Brian Breithaupt on a put-back of a shot by Jim Partaker.

Pat Heninger found the back of the net four minutes later, giving the Dodos a 3-0 lead before the Scare responded with a goal. Back from a month-long hiatus, Breithaupt added his second goal of the game and the season to lock the Dodos into a 4-1 lead at the end of one period.

The Dodos started the second period the same as the first, scoring the first four goals of the period, two by Silvey, giving him a hat trick and two by Girt before Red Scare's Janssen Turell scored to narrow the lead to 8-2.

Third period action saw the Dodos pelt Scare's goalie with 21 shots, with Mike Sinacori scoring one and Girt adding his third of the game for a hat trick.

The Dodos face the Wings (3-8) Sunday, July 8, 2012 at 2:30PM. The Dodos defeated the Wings the first time they played this season, 8-1, in a rematch from last season's championship series.

See the video highlight here: http://youtu.be/rYGreEzgTgo

Check the box score (which is incorrect AGAIN) here: http://stats-live.com/iceoplexsimivalley/Game/BoxScore/1332