PUCK'N A 6, BLEW BY U 5

	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	Final		Shots on Goal
Blew By U	3	2	0	0	5		31
Puck'n A	0	2	3	1	6		47

Scoring: 1,  7:44 Blew By U, #22 (unassisted)
         2,  4:51 Blew By U, #2 (#99)
	 3,  2:03 Blew By U, #6 (#26)

Penalties: 
	12:45 Puck'n A, Troy Gehring 2:00 Roughing
         7:00 Blew By U, #6 2:00 Roughing

Scoring: 4, 12:25 Blew By U, #6 (#22)
         5, 11:11 Puck'n A, Eddie Bell (unassisted)
	 6,  7:06 Blew By U, #22 (#7, #26)
         7,  4:38 Puck'n A, Jeff Robison (Scott Gehring)

Penalties: none.

Scoring: 8,  4:40 Puck'n A, Scott Gehring
         9,   :17 Puck'n A, Scott Gehring PP
        10,   :09 Puck'n A, Jeff Robison (Scott Gehring) PP

Penalties:
	 2:00 Blew By U, #22 2:00 Roughing
	 1:50 Blew By U, Bench Minor 2:00 Too many men
	 1:17 Blew By U, #26 2:00 Roughing

Scoring: 11, 3:30 Puck'n A, Jeff Robison (Troy Gehring, Scott Gehring) PP

Penalties:
	 4:43 Blew By U, #99 2:00 Roughing

Number Name             G  A  Pts PIM
------ ---------------- -  -  --- ---
   1   Troy Gehring     0  1   1   2
   4   Bob Cushman      0  0   0   0
   9   Jeff Robison     3  0   3   0
  10   Eddie Bell       1  0   1   0
  13   Juan Castillo    0  0   0   0
  14   Mitch Wright     0  0   0   0
  16   Scott Gehring    2  3   0   0
  17   Mark Vis         0  0   0   0
  72   Tom Bondur       0  0   0   0

Blew By Two in only a Few

The buzzer sounded for the first round, and it was clear from the start that this was going to be a hard fought battle. It wasn't until 7:44 of the first period that the red light went off. Blew By U's #22 squeezed off a shot and opened the scoring. They went on to score a controversial second goal at 4:51. A penalty had expired on Blew By U, but the player did not leave the penalty box. Instead, a player from the bench joined play. What should have been a too many men penalty resulted in a Blew By U score. The referee conferred with the scoring table, and found that the scoring judge inadvertently allowed the player onto the floor and he refused to overrule.

The team's morale was pretty low at that point, and a score just 3 minutes later didn't help. The period closed with Blew By U up 3-0 and clearly with the momentum. Second and third efforts by team captain Mitch Wright to have the second goal disallowed fell of deaf ears.

Period number two opened with another quick tally by Blew By U and vaulted the team to a commanding 4-0 lead. Despite it all, the Puck'n A fought back hard and Eddie Bell notched the team's first goal at 11:11. Blew By U countered four minutes later regaining their 4 goal lead heading into the last quarter of the period. Fortunately, Jeff Robison broke his scoring drout narrowing the lead to 5-2 at the end of a pair.

Down by three goals heading into the third period, the team had certainly lost a bit of confidence. A glitch in the scoreboard interupted play at the 12:00 mark. It's unknown exactly how much time elapsed, but being down by 3, every second would count. Finally, with 4:40 left, Scott Gehring broke the scoreless period bringing the score with 2 goals. This is significant since the clock stops when play stops at the 2:00 mark if the score is within a pair of goals.

Just as the clock ticked under 3 minutes, Ron Caveman Steele was pulled from the net. Tom Bondur joined the fray keeping the puck in the offensive zone. Then there was a break! At the 2:00 mark exactly, Blew By U was called for roughing. Number 22 took nasty shot at Scott Gehring behind the Puck'n A net. Scott kept his cool, smiled, and watched as the player skated to the box. As the puck dropped for the face-off, Blew By U, clearly confused, had a full contingent on the floor, and with 1:50 left play was whistled down and another member of Blew By U went to the box. This gave the Puck'n A a two man advantage, and with the netminder off, the teams were skating 5-on-2. As one might expect the play stayed down close to the Blew By U net. Attempt after attempt failed to get another goal. At 1:17, Blew By U committed another foul. This time it was roughing. What seemed to be of little consulation later turned out to be a major blunder on the team of teal. The teams remained skating a 5-on-2 and after many near goals, Scott Gehring scored making it 5-4 with 17 seconds left. Time out was called to regroup. Given the second roughing penalty, the teams would continue to skate 5-on-2. Given the manpower advantage and a clear swing in emotion and momentum, it took only 8 seconds for Jeff Robison to knock in the rebound evening the score at 5 goals apiece. Ron Steele was put back into the crease to defend the net for the final seconds.

It was on to overtime, and the Puck'n A bench was certainly buzzing. A two goal deficit was wiped out in a matter of 8 seconds and they now had a single five minute period to steal the game. Heading into the period, Blew By U was still left a man short. That second roughing call has reared its ugly head again.

The puck dropped, and much to everyone's surprise, at 4:43 -- just 17 seconds into the game, #99 of Blew By U took a player hard into the boards and the ref's arm went up. Two minutes for roughing was the call, and the Puck'n A had the 2-man advantage again. It was the longest minute this author has seen in a long time, but it all ended at 3:30 of overtime when Robison scored and from who else but a Gehring...  both of them. Assists when to Troy and Scott, the win to Caveman, and a well-deserved victory for the team.

The Puck'n A will face Oaktown -- a winner in a shoot out against Pro Team Sports -- for the Fall 1997 league Championship. Oaktown is sponsored by the Oakland California Police department. The teams have never met before.

Game time: 8pm, Saturday January 20, 1997 at Dry Ice Hockey Arena