The Klondyke Dental Molars may have been the first to draw blood, scoring just three minutes into the game, but it was all downhill from there for them.
Yukon Inn (3-1-0) returned fire with a vengeance, scoring wsix straight goals in a 6-1 win over the Molars (0-2-2) Wednesday night at Takhini Arena.
“We got outplayed, we got out hustled,” said Lance Bevilacqua, who scored the Molars’ only goal. “We just didn’t play a good game — weren’t skating. They were just a better team. They did more things right than we did and ended up with more goals.”
Inn’s Daryn Leas had his best game so far this season, picking up a hat trick with three goals in the first period, helping give his team a 4-1 lead by the end of the first.
“This is his first year playing (in the league),” said Inn’s Mike Burnett of Leas. “We had no idea who he was, and he’s turned out to be pretty good. He gets points in most games and he’s worked out really good.”
Perhaps because of their comfortable lead, the Inn team altered its style of play in the final period. (Only two, 22-minute periods are played in each game.)
Going from concentrating on getting shots on net, Inn turned to trickier plays, using passing to set up for better goal opportunities.
“When you’ve got a large cushion, you tend to be a little more creative and work on some plays that normally you wouldn’t work on,” said Bevilacqua. “We had to play a little more desperate because we were down. So we were forced to pinch a little bit more in their end and take a few more chances, which came back to haunt us because they came back to get a few more goals.”
However, fresh legs on the ice may have also steered Inn’s play towards a more finessed style.
“We had one more guy (Tom Ullyett) show up at the second part of the game,” said Burnett, who scored two minutes into the second to make it 5-1. “So it gave the defence more time to be rested and make smarter plays instead of just shooting it in.”
Besides being out shot 13-5 in the final period, the Molars difficulties on the ice are better captured by the fact that they were unable to get a shot on net during both of their second period power plays.
But knowing that the season is still in its infancy, Bevilacqua is not too concerned.
“The teams are different every year so we just haven’t gotten in the groove,” said Bevilacqua, referring to how each of the eight teams are drafted by the captains at the start of the season. “There’s one guy on the team, I think, that I played with last year.”
Pop and son goalies
face off in Turbos win
Some sons will follow in their father’s footsteps. Evan Grant, on the other hand, has followed in his father’s skate-marks.
In a 6-2 win over Edgewater Hotel (0-2-2), the Performance Centre Turbos’ goalie had extra pressure put on his mental game as he faced his own father in the opposing net.
“The toughest game I’ll ever play is always against my dad because he always kind of shakes me up,” said Grant, who was subbing in for the team’s regular net minder. “I’ve played in the oldtimer league for four or five years now with him, and I can probably count the number of wins on one hand because he is always able to psyche me out.
“You’re playing against your father — he’s the guy who taught you,” added Evan.
“I used to be able to beat him,” said Edgewater goalie John Grant with a chuckle.
“It’s kind of neat actually, I enjoyed playing against him…
“It’s funny because I coached him when he was this high,” added John, holding his hand thigh-high.
The game consisted of symmetrical periods, with the Turbos (1-2-1) scoring three goals in each period before Edgewater put one in.
“We get up a few goals and I actually feel sorry for him a little bit,” said Evan with a laugh.
Edgewater ran into penalty problems in the first half of the second, opening the door for a string of break-a-ways and a power play goal.
But despite being tripled on the scoreboard in each period, the Turbos only racked up four more shots in the second period than Edgewater.
“Wayne Vallevand and Gord Peterson are really starting to play well,” said Edgewater’s Ranj Pillai, speaking of two his team’s defencemen. “We have a strong defensive core and now that we’re in our fourth game, I don’t think the score is really indicative of the fact that the team is really starting to gel well.
“I think over the next couple of games we’ll see a couple of wins — a couple of points in the ‘W’ column.”