Chinese Taipei Ice Hockey League

The first few minutes were a flurry of uninterrupted tepidness, as a lot of the play bounced back and forth harmlessly between the two sides. Then, showing good speed, the Sharks’ Hubert Li got himself in for a clear chance at the Raptors’ replacement goalie for the evening, Justin Lewis. Fanning on the shot, the puck was smothered, but the subsequent face-off in the Raptor’s zone led to a by-no-means blistering slap-shot from Howard Bai that deflected off a Raptor and became the first of many goals for the Sharks that night at about 3:20.

The teams swapped power-plays, as first the Raptors’ Cuvilier took a penalty and then the Sharks’ Mossing took down Mal who was applying some pressure while on a short-handed rush. The Raptor power-play was looking pretty weak as they could never quite get anything together. Stever (Sharks) managed to get a clumsy puck out from under his skates and went in on a short-handed breakaway to beat Lewis on the high glove side. That was just the beginning of the Raptors’ troubles. Less than a minute later, the Sharks made it 3-0 with a weak low-shot by Kevin Lu that goalie Lewis perhaps should have stopped. 2 minutes later, a nice slot pass by Stever from behind the net found Kennedy driving unmolested toward the net and the Sharks at a commanding 4-0. The Raptors finally got a goal at about 14:00 of the first from Bob (I-have-a-two-name-nickname-because-there-are-too-many-damn-Bobs-in-the-league) Ford. Later, a Raptor shot from the blue line hit a post and Stever had what seemed like an eternity to put the puck in while parked at the side of an open net, but he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to go backhand or forehand and just kind of sent it meandering out of harm’s way. The period ended with the sharks up 4-1, and looking the stronger and hungrier of the two sides.

For the first few minutes of the second, it looked like the Raptors, were going to step up their game a bit, as Mal started digging and Marcus did pretty good bulldozer impression by trying to run over two Sharks defensemen while killing a penalty. But at 5:39 Stever killed that momentum by going down the left side with enough speed to make room for a slap-shot that went glove side and made it 5-1. Ronan Wilson then got 6-1 on a backhanded shot from a rebound and shortly after he got his second goal off a funny deflection and the Raptors were in bad shape at 7-1. But no, Mal got one back by banging away at the puck and the Sharks’ goalie Macintosh for like the Brazilianth time and made it 7-2. The Raptors started to make a push for a comeback, but in stepping up the offense, the Raptors’ defense went from looking like a negligent dad to more of a deadbeat, glue-sniffing drunk avoiding his alimony payments by living under a bridge. Odd man rushes were plentiful, but luckily Lewis found his mojo and stunned the audience with kung-fu goaltending moves that seemed to be inspired from watching a hooked fish flop around on the floor of a boat, and kept the puck out of the net for the rest of the period.

Behind 7-2, the Raptors had to pull something together fast if they wanted to get back in the game, and the 3 rd period had both sides speeding up the play. But before 5 minutes were up, after making a great kick save, Lewis let in a weak shot from the point that gave Howard Bai his second of the night. That made it 8-2 and left little hope of a Raptors’ comeback in the next 15 minutes. Then Kennedy took that hope, and like a cigarette-butt into a beer-soaked carpet, ground it out by going in alone and tucking the puck under the crossbar and making it 9-2. The Raptors’ Paul (you’ll-have-to-drag-me-out-of-here) Bray got one back to make it 9-3 and though they battled hard after that, it was clear that it could only be an effort to minimize the extent of the Raptors’ loss. But in the end, Hubert Li again showed his good speed and got in alone to toss it between the legs of Lewis, topping of the Sharks 10-3 victory over an out-played Raptors.

In short, Sharks’ goalie Greg Macintosh played solid throughout and the Sharks’ young Chinese players showed good passing, speed and offense, making two strong forward lines out there that could and did score. Kennedy, Stever, Wilson, and Hubert Bai each got two goals each. Though a few weak goals made it past Justin Lewis, for most of the game, the Raptors abandoned him like he was a Taiwanese kid’s pet turtle. With the Raptors offense only producing three goals and the defensive play allowing the Sharks’ so many cracks at the net, well… you lose.

With that win, the Sharks, who started the day in last place, built on their earlier pasting of the Wolves and captured a total of 4 points on the day to jump past the Rhinos, Wolves and Raptors to gain fourth place and a spot at the table with the big boys.

3 Stars

#1 – Matt Stever (Sharks) two goals and three assists

#2 – Kevin Kennedy (Sharks) 2 goals and 1 assist

#3 – Hubert Li (Sharks) 1 goal and 2 assists

- D u n King