Greece Athena/Odyssey 2, Fairport 0, (Lakeshore Hockey Arena)

Thunder 2, Fairport 0 (Lakeshore)

VIDEO

From D&C Staff Reports (2/5/09):

J.T. Stenglein scored with an assist from Matt Lane three minutes into the game for Greece (19-0). Greg Ryan scored with an assist from Riley Bourbonnais midway through the period to make it 2-0 for the Thunder. Parker Bonis made 13 saves for the win. Richie Carlston stopped 23 shots for Fairport (14-2-4-1)

Wes Vyverberg Reports

Game Report
OK, so that "woman" I mentioned in the last report, the one with the masters jacket and the red chucks, turns out it was Athena junior Katie Edinger, taking a break from the set of West Side Story, for round two at the mic, on senior night. Jordan "grills" Grills, Eric "Gunda/Gundo/Gundi" Gunderson, Ben "Cubbi/Hammerhead" McCubbin, Greg "Go-Greggy" Ryan, and Pat "So-fee-ya/So-fi-ya/Sof" Sofia each had a senior moment on the red carpet with their families and then a hockey game broke out shortly thereafter between your very own Greece Athena/Odyssey Thunder and the Fairport Red Raiders. With a rather vocal cheering section behind them, Thunder hung a goose egg on the Red Raiders for the second time this season.

Three minutes into the opening period, JT Stenglein put his patented "drive to the net" play into action, losing the handle at the end but then rejoicing as the puck hit a skate and deflected past Carlston for the first goal of the game and eventual winner. As the stands erupted we all figured, hey, we'll take it any way we can get it, and just like that it was 1-0 Thunder. Less than a minute later Pat Sofia got it the way nobody wants it as he was thrown head first into the boards and was ostensibly done for the night. With Bardreau (#18 for Fairport) serving time for boarding Sofia, Thunder went to work and 17 seconds before the 4-minute man-advantage was about to expire, Greg Ryan feathered a pass out to Riley Bourbonnais at the point and then made a b-line for the right post where a seeing-eye return pass from Bourbs would deflect off Ryan's leg into the net, to lift Thunder to 2-0. Greece ended up spending the majority of the first frame on a perpetual powerplay, while Fairport maintained a steady parade to the box.

But both teams would take turns in the sin bin as the intensity of play continued to build throughout the scoreless second period and on into the third. On one of his more notable kills, Vyper challenged the shooter, taking one for the team in the chest to keep the dream alive and renew his membership in the Harry Shaw society. And how about "little" Stevie Hebberecht playing "huge", i mean HUGE Rochester, like he was 6'-2" and 200 Lbs boxing out and controlling the play along the boards. With less than three minutes to go in the game, Vypes, Hebs, and Cheese found themselves battling down low in their own end along the wall to keep Fairport at bay for almost a minute of desperation. At the next stoppage Fairport exercised their timeout with only 1:59 left on the clock. Then Scotty "Bam"-Grimshaw delivered his own "stoppage", when he trucked #20-Cam Nickels, earning himself the Doan Collision for the second game in a row. Cheese, Greggy and Gundi also got some down the stretch as they took turns nailing their checks during the mass hysteria that led to a party in the penalty box with just 4 seconds to go.

When all was said and done, Thunder did what they needed to do to get that 19th win for #19. Shots were 25-13 in Thunder's favor. Bonis' glove was red-hot as he made 13 saves for his 3rd shutout and 12th win and Thunder advanced their record to 19-0, with a 2-0 margin over Fairport.

While the forecast shows a light wintry mix and a 40% chance of precipitation, if the first meeting of the season was any indication, the 9th annual STORM game, 8pm on Tues Feb 10th at the 'shore, could very well heat things up enough to melt the ice!