UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

In the first game of the night we have the Blues hosting the Whalers.  The Blues come into tonight off a 7-2 beating on the defending champs (Gamblers) as they look like they could be back in the finals again this year! Tonight is the first game of the season for the Whalers who came into tonight with a good core of guys back from last years team  but also they welcome 5-6 new guys as well. The outcome of this game will depend on how well the Whalers gel as a team but look for the Blues to take over half way through the game and win 5-1. 

In the first game of the night we have the Blues hosting the Whalers.  The Blues come into this week off a dominate win over the Gamblers in week one and the Whalers had a bye in week one. The game started out with the Whalers coming out ready to play even though they had a week one bye.  The Whalers new comer Ryan Quinn scored the games first goal at 11:18 to put the Whalers up 1-0. The score would remain 1-0 as the Blues continued to put pressure on the Whalers and eventually with 3:46 left in the period when Mike Anderson tied the game up. The Blues would continue to swarm the Whalers end and less then a minute later (2:53 mark) the Blues would go up 2-1 on a goal from Brian Smith.  The period would end with the Blues up 2-1 heading into the second period. 

In the second period the Whalers came out hard and it paid off as Ryan Quinn scored his second goal of the night at 12:32 to tie the game at 2-2. After tieing the game up the Whalers then would take a penalty 21 seconds later. On the insuming power play the Blues would go up 3-2 on a power play goal from Trevor Billings at 10:28.  The Blues would continue their to pressure the Whalers and start to take over the game as the Whalers were starting to get tired.  The Blues would go up 4-2 at 5:29 on an Eric Mack goal, the Blues would keep peppering the Whalers with shots but the score would remain 4-2 heading into the third. 

In th third period the Blues came out flying and just 23 seconds into the period TJ Moran would put the Blues up 5-2.  The Whalers didn't give up as Scotty Shaw would make the score 5-3 at the 13:24 mark in the period. The play was back and forth but the Blues would get the games next two goals to put this game out of reach, the 6th Blues goal was scored by Eric Mack (his second of the night) on a nice tic tac toe play with his linemates.  The 7th Blues goal was scored by Josh Belden with 7:53 remaining in the third, to extend the Blues lead to 7-3.  The Whalers would get one more goal from Dillan Pierce at 5:13 to cut the lead to 7-4 but the Blues are just to dominate to come back from a 4 goal lead on.  The game would end with the Blues winning the game by the score of 7-4 as they continue to show the rest of the league that they are going to be the team to beat this year.