After another difficult loss, I arrive at home not to be greeted with hot chocolate, a warm fire and a sexy mom telling me that losing is ok but instead I find my roommate playing EA hockey on the computer and once again trying to beat his record of 112 goals scored in a game. He is so proud of his accomplishments but I offer no smile and notice that he is using the 98 Red Wings against some German First Division team. This is what the Rhinos face every game. Game plan pre usual- one man deep, ice the puck and freeze it at every opportunity. A plan of desperation, or maybe just preparation for the playoffs when the feeding frenzy of other teams is subdued.

Sunday’s game between the Rhinos and the Tigers looked bleak for the Rhinos from the start. Short bench, backup goalie and debut of this year’s “Late Season Shelly” (Jeff from the Raptors was lurking around to see if it really was Shelly). And to make matters worse, the Tigers came out hungry and scored two goals in the first five minutes. The rout was on. Tiger superstar Kevin Yu smelled blood and started to take control of the game making a few spectacular rushes. Rookie sensation Jeff Millard also jumped into the feeding frenzy, however the Rhinos had too much pride and refused to be blown out. The Rhinos also sent a subtle message-if you run up the score we will hurt you. After one period of play which saw few stoppages, the Rhinos were only down by a goal.

The second period was much of the same. The Rhinos holding on for dear life and the Tigers looking to blow open the game. Kevin Yu scored two identical goals from the slot to make the Rhinos believe they were in for a point fest after all, however, Rhino super leader JP Grimard took the puck from his own end and went coast to coast and put a nifty backhand off two posts to put the Rhinos back in the game.

Going into the third period the score was 4-2. The Rhinos felt confident in their game plan as they had many chances already while keeping the scoring low. Alex Whalen was sent in alone and could have made it 4-3 but he didn’t. Then! Machine gun Tommy Sullivan was sick of yelling at his players and took matters into his own hands and put the game out of reach in the middle of the third period with a slapper inside the blueline that was deflected by a Rhino defensemen robbing Sullivan of the gratification of an accurate shot.

The game was pretty much over when two time CIHL champion (not a race horse) Wally Hobbs moved in from the blueline unmolested and picked up a rebound to score his first goal of the season. Which begs the question-who was covering Hobbs? Who was covering Hobbs?

Final score 5 -3 in favor of the Tigers.

Three Stars

#1 Kevin Yu

#2 Tommy “Coach” Sullivan