Defense Strong Again In Hotly Contested Thriller
SKYRINK, May 20, 2006 – The Sled Dogs played stifling defense and aggressive offense tonight but couldn’t melt the Blizzard in a physical game. The team has yielded only 5 goals the past 3 games and is tied for the division lead with only 12 goals against.
The Dogs transition game also continued its strong play as the defense not only initiated offensive rushes with smart breakout passes, but also extended the pressure by holding the puck in the Blizzard’s zone on many occasions. Jen Parvinpour and Dan Dorval owned the neutral zone tonight carrying the puck and disrupting Blizzard offensive rushes on the backcheck.
Jack Whalen had the team’s only goal but his line (Parvinpour and Sled Dog leading goal-scorer Rich Lee) had several good chances and played aggressively. Lee, fighting hard to retain puck possession in the Blizzard zone, drew a 5-minute major penalty by keeping his composure against the leading candidate for D7 Cheap Shot Artist of the Year. “There was contact,” said Lee about the play that preceded the incident, “but we were both going for the puck and it was all clean. Besides, his only complaint was that his contact lens fell out!”
The Dogs dominated the third period with intense pressure and numerous quality scoring chances but couldn’t find the back of the net, even with goalie Christine Overbye on the bench in favor of an extra attacker in the last minute. Overbye continued her solid play stoning several Blizzard chances and quarterbacking the defense from between the pipes.
Notes: The Sled Dogs power play continues to struggle, as the team couldn’t cash in on the long man advantage… Howard Krulewitz set a Sled Dog record by playing in 3 consecutive games…Overbye’s goals against average dropped to a miniscule 2.67…The Sled Dogs next game is June 3 vs. BNP Paribas at 4:00pm.
