Second Game v Rochester, Part 4

This is still the game against Rochester, and there's one more post from that game after this one before we move on.

Dylan parked in front of a momentarily open net.

Here's Max K. with a rebound from Jackson's save.

Jacob taking the puck to the red line. Nice green laces, Jacob. Are they new?

Henri giving all he's got.

Our netminders blocked lots of shots, but they were mostly the catch and release kind, like this one.

Second Game v Rochester, Part 3

More photos from the Spartans' win against Rochester.

Here's Wyatt defending the goal.

Jackson and Garrett blocking the net.

Max D. on the move.

Garrett with a pass.

Marco with a pass to Matthew.

Second Game v Rochester, Part 2

There was lots of good action during the game the Spartans played against Rochester on Saturday, March 14.

Here's a traffic jam.

Sometimes in business settings, people say very knowingly that you have to skate to where the puck is going, not where it is. I always want to do them bodily harm. Here Henri gets down to business by skating to where...you get the idea.

Penalty for tripping called on this play. Max B. did a great job in this game, as did all of our forwards.

Doesn't look like much, so let me parse it for you. Better yet, just look at the next photo.

Way to go, Andrew.

Second Game v Rochester, Part 1

This morning, Richfield played its first game in the Wings of Spring tournament at Parade Ice Gardens against Rochester. Although the first period was scoreless, the Spartans rang the bell five times in the second and once in the third, for a final tally of 6-0 in their favor.

Andrew S. reaching for the puck, surrounded by red jerseys.

Gavin, fast as usual.

Max K. watching the play.

Garrett somehow willed the opponent to lose his footing.

We saw Max D. getting ready for soccer season a few days ago. Now here's one of our opponents, apparently trying to head the puck into the goal. It didn't work out for him.

Game v Rochester, Part 3

Here's the end of the game against Rochester.

Wyatt.

Hunter.

Andy P. reaching.

Dylan working the puck in front of the net.

Just like the photo on the Beatles' Abbey Road album cover, except they're marching left to right and have longer hair.

Game v Rochester, Part 2

Andy P. has been under-represented among the photos on this blog. It's not intentional, but for some reason there have been fewer shots of him than most other players. In this post, we'll remedy that in one fell swoop.

Andy stopped a lot of shots...

...switched from side to side...

...stayed alert...

...and crouched for action. Great job, Andy.

I got a few good shots of other players, too. This one's Marco.

Game v Rochester, Part 1

Rink 1, the main rink at the Richfield arena, is poorly lit. There's no other way to say it. It's otherwise one of my favorite rinks. You can walk all the way around it. The sight lines are excellent and there's a scoreboard at each end. But the ceiling is dark wood, and the light fixtures look like flowers in which each petal is a fluorescent light, and there just aren't enough of them.

After the dark and foreboding confines of rink 1 on Friday, the 13th, the occasion of our loss to Cottage Grove, we emerged on Saturday, the 14th, into the brighter light of rink 2 for our second game of the tournament. Our opponents were the Rochester team, who had a similarly bleak Friday the 13th. Unfortunately for them, the 14th was no better, while our luck changed.

Rink 2 has very good light, but only so-so sight lines. The glass is too high, and that means you have to shoot from the top bleacher in order for the camera to see over it. But getting up so high forces you to look down on the players, and the angle doesn't allow you to catch the eyes, most of the time. So I stood behind our bench to make the photos, with many thanks to Coach McCoy.

Hunter nailed beautiful shot from the point, a move that we've seen a couple of other times this season.

There's Gavin, whose speed and puck handling ability often leads our offensive maneuvers.

Jackson had several saves.

Marco reaching for a pass.

Here's Dylan, looking for a pass from Andrew S., and apparently knocking one of the opponents off his feet.