Game #3 Report: Vineyard 6, Phunk Junkies 5

My, what a game. Crusaders sport only five skaters, yet hold off a relentless third period comeback by the Junkies. Vineyard held a 5-1 lead, only to see it evaporate to 5-4 in what seemed a matter of seconds. Then, Spizarny the Stupendous struck, scoring a much needed insurance goal that proved to be the difference in the contest. But not to take anything away Tim T. and Matt who shined, often beating two and three defenders in path to the enemy netminder. Matt and Tim tallied all of the other five goals. Or Russel, who was spectacular in net, especially early on, as the game was scoreless for a good part of the opening period.

The Vineyard defensive effort was solid, showing only kinks in the third period, or a few errant clears by me that ended up in the back our net. I sat only for one shift in the third period, though I visited the sin bin in each of the first two periods for being a bit too aggressive in clearing the crease clean of opposing skaters. Don made a trip to the penalty box too.

All and all, it was a superb team effort all around — great goaltending, solid defense, and steady, effective, "finishing" forward play. Again, we were running out of steam in the third period, but managed to gut it up enough to snatch the win.

A final note — the goalie for Phunk Junkies was not their regular netminder, yet I don't think the outcome would have been any different.