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GAME 1 - Blackhawks 4 - Riptide "A" 1
When we faced off against the Riptide "A" team I knew we were in for a tough game. I heard that the team was made up of many of the top players from the two teams that played for the championship in Howell Hockey last season. They have so many great players in that league, so I figured we were in trouble. They gave us a great game, but we were ready for them. (But it was not easy.) Riptide took many shots on Nick, who played incredible. An incredible leg save in the second, a great glove save in the third, and a great blocker save that nearly cleared our zone in the third. The first period saw both teams battling back and forth. Neither team seemed able to score until Derrick bounced a puck off a Riptide defenseman, as we saw it slip past a very surprised goalie. Bobby nearly scored as he slammed one off the post. It was a great shot, but all we got out of it was the infamous "CLINK". A sound that has haunted the Blackhawks since Victor hit the crossbar with 5 seconds left in the semi-final game in our first season in Brick (we lost the game by a goal). We almost scored another as Jordan buried one that the goalie barely stopped in the 5-Hole. By the end of the first we held a 1-0 lead.

Early in the second period while killing a penalty and holding that 1-0 lead, we played our best 3 minutes of the game. We controlled the puck for the entire penalty. Frankie and Matt on "D" and Billy, Eddie and Nicky sharing the duties on "O" were awesome. At one point we hear a Riptide player yell "C’mon guys we’ve got a power play". Unfortunately for the Riptide we are at our best when killing a penalty. And to prove this, late in the penalty Matt and Billy pulled off a great give-and-go to score our second goal of the game, and our first short handed goal of the game. Matt with the goal and Billy quick to point out that he got the assist. The next shift we saw Tommy, Bobby and Derrick keep up the pressure. We were playing our game but at the end of the period we only held a 2-0 lead.

To start the third period, we had to find a way to get some goals. The Riptide was playing great defense stopping us, and their offense was not giving up. Matt must have found a way to score because he got his second goal from defense. Within minutes, Robert passed the puck to JJ who one-timed it into the net for his first Blackhawk goal. It was a beautiful play. Prior to these goals, we were preparing the lines to go into "shutdown mode" to hold the 2-0 lead. But with a 4-0 lead we were able to just play our normal game. The Riptide did something that very few teams have done to us in the past two years. They scored a late goal. To close the gap to 4-1 but we held on to win the game.

A funny moment was supplied to us by Matt, late in the game. He was alone in our zone and far away from the puck which was right in front of our bench. The nearest players, were from the Riptide. Showing great teamwork, one of the Riptide yelled "I got it" as the other broke for the net. But Matt came flying in from nowhere and yelled "No you don’t" as he took the puck. This quick exchange left us all laughing.

P.S. I want to thank Billy for not hurling today. The last two games I coached him, he got sick.

GAME 2 - Blackhawks 9 - Riptide "B" 1
I missed this game. Had to leave early for the weekend to go to a race on Friday. I'm not sure how the game played out. Tommy told me we won ad he thought the score was 7 to 1. If anyone want's to submit one, I will enter it.

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GAME 3 - Blackhawks 10 - Whalers 0
Wow! We came out fired up this week. After two games where we were not really happy with how we played, this week we started to do things right again. We did a lot of passing again. Our defense was over powering. We worked on some set plays and even scored a couple goals using our plays. We started working on a new play this week. It was funny wathing the kids try to work it because we really had a hard time pulling it off.

Goals were scored by......I will fill this in later.

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GAME 4 - Blackhawks 5 - Riptide "A" 4
This was one heck of a game. For the first two periods we were on vacation (that's why the picture). The Riptide did some things this week that we have not had happen in a long time, if ever. They scored within the first 15 seconds. They held us scoreless for nearly 2 full periods. We were on a power play and THE RIPTIDE SCORED SHORTHANDED (sound familiar). They held a 4-0 lead over us. They were beating the pants off of us for the first two periods. But then the sleeping giant awoke and the Blackhawks came roaring back. It was not looking good as the second period was winding down and we were down 4 to NOTHING. But never say die.........Matt was rushing the puck from our zone and Bill yelled "Shoot now Matt.....5 seconds left Matt!" As the clocked ticked down to 3 seconds....2 seconds then Matt shot......back of the net.....BUZZZZZZZZZ....... We got that goal at the buzzer and ended the period losing 4 to 1.

Then I earned my pay. After hearing the players complain about the offense, the defense, the goalie, the referees, the floor.....yada, yada, yada.....I decided to pull a page out of Bill Smiths bad cop book. I yelled at the kids. I told them to stop complaining and start playing. Under threats of sitting if they didn't play hockey, the kids just shut up and played. And guess what. They started scoring again. Derick moved up to offense from defense and slammed one that bounced from the right post to the left post to the back of the net. A double clink and a goal. Great shot. Matt followed that up with his second of the game to bring us within a goal. Then came one of those moments that I live for. I already had the kids fired up, but a Riptide parent threw gas on that fire when he yelled "Com'on guys, no more gifts"......when we heard that, boy we were psyched. After all, we have scored over 320 goals (gifts?) in our last 44 games. My kids don't get that many gifts on Christmas.

Looking for his own "gift", Robert tied the game up with great hustle as he buried one and we knew we were back in the game. But then came the key moment for us. The puck was in front of our net. Lots of skates and sticks hacking at it. Nobody could control it. It was lost in a sea of bodies, sticks and skates. A goalies worst nightmare, since the puck usually gets lost and eventually finds its way into the net. Nick made the play of the day when he dove intothe crowd of sticks and skates and covered the puck. Crisis over. And that is the reason we have been so successful. Everyone gives 100% when they have to, but every so often someone makes a play like that.

Anyway Matt was not done yet, as he got the hat trick when he scored his third goal of the game. Oh yeah and the GIFT was the game winner. Billy added a couple of assists. Great come back guys. You made us proud. And you gave us a fun, thrilling game to watch. And as I said a month ago, the Riptide "A" team is hear to beat us and they are going to be good.

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GAME 5 - Blackhawks 4 - Riptide "B" 2
We come out lethargic again, but managed to get the lead. We spent a lot of time in the Riptide zone, but we could not put anything together. We were still working on a new play, but we are still not getting it right. Riptide played a great defense to keep us in check this week. We did have a few breakaways but the Riptide goalie did a great job stopping the shots. Including a beatiful play late in the second period where he was down and we had an open net. We took the shot and he stole the puck out of the air. Left us speachless.

Goals were scored by.......I forget. SORRY. Next week (against the Whalers) Nicky Fontana and Jordan McGhee will be splitting time in goal as we give Nick the chance to get out and skate. Tommy and I will miss that game so we wish you guys the best of luck. Have fun.

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GAME 6 - Blackhawks 10 - Whalers 2
Review submitted by Bill Giersbach.

It was a good game. We didn't go crazy with goals and the Whalers got 2 legitiment goals on us (Eddie was goalie). One was scored by Ashley Spalos and I don't remember who got the other one. Nick Gugliocello did well and he had 2 goals and an assist. The first goal was a rebound that Nick "Poke-Checked in" (what else is a goalie supposed to do)? Nick went off sides a couple of times but who's to blame him the only time he ever crosses the center line is to change sides after periods. LOL ;) The game was fun and everyone was happy. Even the Whalers they had a good time too.

Congratulations Nick. After more than 60 games with the Blackhawks, Nick Gugliocello finally scored a goal. But Nick has been at a disadvantage for the past 60 games since he is our goalie. We let him get out and skate this week. Jordan McGhee and Nick Fontana were scheduled to split time between the pipes this week, but in warm ups, Nick realized that he really didn't want to be a goalie. Ed filled in for Nick. Great job in net for our first time net minders.

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GAME 7 - Riptide 4 - Blackhawks 3
What a great game to watch. In fact this has been the third great game we have played with the Riptide "A" team. This has become a series of games that has been fun. I think my favorite part of the series, is that even though we are playing close games, there is no animosity between the teams. Lets keep it that way. In fact both Riptide teams have been fun to play this season.

We were fortunate to come back from a 4-0 deficit the last time we played the Riptide. This time we took the early lead and they came back to win the game. Using their "backup" goalie, the Riptide was able to keep us from scoring for the last half of the game to lock up the victory. It might not happen, but we expect to see them in the championship game. With this in mind we tried a few things tonight. Some experiments and some new plays we tried on the fly. While we think they can work, we need to work on them a little. Sure, they cost us a couple goals, but it was a great opportunity to see what to expect, should we play each other in the Championship game.

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GAME 8 - Blackhawks 2 - Riptide "B" 1
I missed this one. We had one final ski race in New Hampshire for the 2000 season. I heard it was another close game. I think the score was 2-1.

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GAME 9 - Blackhawks 9 - Whalers 1
We scored a lot this week, but I was busy colating all the Allaire paperwork so I missed the game. The only goal I remember seeing was Frankies which is a rarity. I mean seeing the goal, not him scoring. I usually miss the goals he scores.

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Game 10- Riptide 3 - Blackhawks 2
The scoring drought continues against these guys. We took the early lead and held a 2-1 lead into the third, but we gave up two third period goals. The back breaker was the wrist shot from the point that snuck past Nick.

Since we will be missing a few guys, the next time we play, If we lose, we will find ourselves sitting in second place for the first time in two years. And this second loss was the first time we had two losses in a season in two years.

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GAME 11 - Blackhawks 5 - Riptide "B" 1
Okay. This one looked good. We got back to passing, defense and the usual good stuff. We tried a few new things again. some worked, some were kinda scary. But we have to try new things if we are to ever move up to the next level. We put at least 40 shots on goal this week. The Riptide goalie played awesome because we only managed to get 5 past him. Our defense only gave up about 15 shots. Everyone looked good this week.

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GAME 12 - Blackhawks 8 - Whalers 4
Huh? That right. The Whalers were missing their golaie and with one goalie and only one set of equipment in the building, we lent them Nick and played with a sixth skater in place of the goalie. We used 8 kids in that position and we saw goals scored on Matt, Derik, Tommy and Frankie. At one point the Whalers were beating us 3 to 2 and I was wondering if I made a mistake. This game did count in the standings and a loss would have been bad news. But the player finally got the point. Defense had to play tough and give up NO SHOTS on goal. That was the only way to stop the scoring. When we stopped allowing shots on goal, we started to score and pull away.

The highlight had to be when PJ scored. We was playing "goalie" for us and got the puck. We yelled for a dump and change so PJ dumped it. It went on net and Nick was must not have been ready because the puck found it's way in. And speaking of Nick, normally he only sees a couple shots in the Whalers games. Since he had to face us, he was hit with A TON of shots. I should have counted them. And he was frustrating us.

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GAME 13 - RESCHEDULED TO THURSDAY MAY 11
Blackhawks 1 - Riptide "A" 1 Close game. Back to back effort by both teams. Eddie scored our lone goal on a backhanded shot that found the 5 hole. Great defenseive effort by both teams. The Blackhawks almost rose to my challenge of 3 shots or less in the third period by holding the Riptide to 5 shots. Nick played great in goal again.

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GAME 14 - Blackhawks 9 - Riptide "B" 1
We looked good again this week. It has been a wahile since we have played such a good looking game. Offense, defense and the goalie played fantastic.

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GAME 15 - Championship game.
Blackhawks vs. the Riptide "A" at 7:30 This is going to be an outstanding game. In the 5 regular season games the two teams are evenly split with 2 wins each, 2 losses each and a tie. Three of the games were decided by ONE goal. This game will be lost on a mistake. By either team. We are taking it seriously since we are holding our second practice in two years to prepare for this game. That practice will be on May 24 at 7:30.

I hate scoreless championship games that advance to overtime. The teams I am rooting for never seem to win. The Blackhawks lost to the Riptide 1-0 in O/T and the Devils lost game 5 in triple O/T to the Stars 1-0. I HATE 'EM. But what I did enjoy was this game. I am a defensive minded coach and this game was all about great defense. And two great goalies, playing the best games of their lives. Nick and Devin, I congratulate both of you for great games.

Frankie, PJ, RJ and Derik played great on defense. The offense worked hard, but we could not sneak anything past Devin. The Riptide "D" came up as big as we did as often as we did. It was an exciting game where both teams had many chances late in the game as players were starting to tire out. During the game we had many chances but missed close ones a couple times. In the second period, Tommy hit the crossbar with a hard shot from the slot. With 10 seconds left we had our best chance, when Matt took a shot from the point that hit the cross bar. One inch lower and we win......in dramatic fashion.

On to overtime, and Jackson was doing something new. NO SHOOTOUT. We play 'til someone scores. At the rate we were going we could still be playing (remember I am writing this 10 weeks later). We tried hard and I tried to keep our top scorers on the rink, but I couldn't keep them there forever. They were tiring out. The Riptide did the same. But 5:09 into O/T one of the Riptide "D" took a shot from the point that found the net, to give the Riptide the championship, while ending our "Drive for Five". Congrats Riptide. We enjoyed playing you. You were a welcome addition to Jackson. You treated us with respect, and we truly respected you guys.

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Check out this great article on TEAMWORK

The Blackhawks have purchased four season tickets for the Trenton Titans. The Titans are New Jerseys minor league ice hockey team in the prestigious East Coast Hockey League. We are making these seats available to our club members first. If you are interested in these seats let us know.
Check out the information on them.