The California Cougars and New Jersey Ironmen both entered The Rock early Thursday morning both needing a win. Both teams were fighting for position in an ugly lower mid-table battle. With the playoffs less than two months away, the crunch time cliche is beginning to find true meaning.
Obviously it is needless to say, from the title of this post, that the Irons walked away triumphant with a 16-8 win. Put the five game losing streak in the books and the past, because if the Irons continue to show half the intensity they showed in this game we are post season bound.
The first goal came in the 3rd minute as Kante assisted on an Antoniuk strike. The Brazilian Tiguinho knocked in the 2nd goal of the game at 4:40. As the 1st quarter was winding down California made a statement that they would not go lightly as Evan McNeley tickled the twine in the 12th minute.
The second quarter was all Iron. Kante connects once again with Antoniuk for another 2-pointer. In the 10th minute Captain Lazo Alavanja fired a rocket 3-pointer, bringing the halftime score to 9-2.
At 8:46 in the 3rd quarter Alavanja fires again from behind the arch becoming the team's all-time/season 3-point leader (5 total if you were wondering). Now up 12-2 the hacking is becoming more and more visible, and the game is starting to look more like hockey with the way players are being put in the boards. Meloa who was having a great game in the nets takes a hard fall 11 minutes in, giving backup keeper Elvin some minutes. He returns to the game shortly, and at 14:07 the Belgrade boys connect. Goran Vasic sends a nice ball in that Stefan Stokic had no trouble putting away, bringing the score to 14-2 at the end of the third.
1:46 into the 4th quarter Antoniuk assisted on a Tim O'Neill two pointer making it 16-2. It would be all California from there. 8:57 was Pedro Lupercio. 10:29 Semir Mesanovic. 13:19 Chris Handsor. Now if I did my math correctly final score Irons 16-8. The forth quarter also brought us some heated discussions to put it nicely. Words were being exchanged on both sides in regards to the endless cheap shots, body checks and fouls that occurred. It did almost get physical, but the main debaters where separated. Meola also did some time in the box. Why? I'm not entirely sure, but it was definitely an intense game. I'd also like to add that the defense looked better today. Kante might be the type of player we needed to bring some stability back there.
What's up next for the 11-10 Ironmen? Sunday March 2nd, at The Rock in Newark, the Irons take on Orlando. It should be an exciting one.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment