October 07, 2017 - The Steele County Blades hosted the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings for two games at home this past weekend.
On Saturday night, the Blades jumped out to an early lead at the 9:39 mark of the first period. Blades Forward, Jake Friese, was able to sneak one past Riverkings goalie, Parker Rutherford, with the assists going to Kory Potach and Justin Movalli. For the remainder of the period, the two teams remained in a stalemate. Blades’ goaltender, Nick Mizen, stopped all 7 of the Riverkings shots.
The Blades came out slow to start the second period, but were able to weather the Riverkings storm for nearly half of the period. At the 8:51 mark of the second period, the Riverkings were able to sneak one past the Blades, evening the score at one. Shortly thereafter, the Riverkings capitalized again on a powerplay at the 10:50 mark. A missed call in favor of the Blades led to extended zone time directly relating to the Riverkings second goal. At the 15:34 mark of the second period, the Riverkings were able to sneak one past Mizen to extend their lead to 3-1.
The Riverkings continued their momentous swing into the early stages of the third period, when a puck bounced around in front of the net, ultimately ending in the back of it, making the score 4-1. The Blades were able to narrow the lead to two goals at the 4:33 mark of the 3rd period. Blades forward, Kory Potach, hammered home his first goal of the season, with assists going to Jake Friese and Josh Crandall. The two teams would exchange chances for roughly the next ten minutes, with neither able to mount a lot of sustained offense. At 13:51 of the period, the Riverkings scored their fifth and final goal of the night on a screened shot that Mizen was not able to catch. The game would end with a final score in favor of the Riverkings, with a score of 5-2. Blades assistant coach, Brett Mory, had this to say after the game, “For instances throughout the game, we looked like the team that we want to be. At the end of the day we, as a unit, need to put it together for a full-sixty minutes in order to reach our goals.”
October 08, 2017- After losing Saturday night to the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings, Sunday’s second game of the series was yet another back and forth battle where momentum was hard to come by. The first period saw a total of 14 shots, thirteen for the Riverkings and one for the Blades. However, the shot count is not a direct translation to the period itself. The first period saw action from both sides of the ice, with both teams ending with the same result, no goals. Blades goaltender, Vinny Capezza (Hammond, WI), was sharp, once again, in only his second start of the season, as he stopped all 13 of the Riverkings shots.
The second period brought the same action as the previous frame. A quarter of the way through the period, the Riverkings were able to beat Capezza on an errant bounce off the end-boards behind the net. The Blades would not back down after the unlucky goal, however. They were able to exchange a plethora of chances with the Riverkings, but were not able to beat the Riverkings goaltender. Shots in the period were dead even between the two teams, ending at 8-8.
The third period would bring much of the same action between the two teams. Early in the third, the Riverkings capitalized on a quick transition and put a shot past Capezza, making the score 2-0. The Blades were searching for their first goal of the night, but were not able to capitalize on two power-play opportunities that came their way. On the other side of the ice, the Blades strong penalty-kill efforts came through, as they were able to kill off two Riverkings power-plays, including a 5 minute major. The Blades fought hard until the final buzzer with a final score of 2-0 in favor of the Riverkings.
Blades Head Coach, Nick Adamek had this to say about the weekend, “We fought hard throughout the two games. At times, we played good hockey, but we did not play to our full potential, that we preach every day. For us to be successful, we, as coaches and players, cannot search for little victories if we did not end with the result that we wanted. For us to be successful, we need to put together a full-sixty minute hockey game, in all three zones. Now it is time to focus on the eight potential points that we are searching for this next weekend.”
As Coach Adamek stated, the Blades will be back in action next weekend, with four games at the USPHL Chicago Showcase. The Blades open play on Friday, 10/13, against rival, Chicago Cougars, at 12:20 pm. Tune in to watch your Blades battle for the two points that they are vying for on Hockeytv.com on Friday!