Day 2, Game 3: Finland vs China

Game 3 was a matchup of Finland vs China. Once again, all eyes were on the ice. Both team were 1-0 coming into the game, one of the teams would skate off happy and confident, the other not so much.

Puck drop in the first and away we go. Wheeee! First 4 minutes, the teams seemed evenly matched, but China Syndrome's Schrocky put his name on the scoresheet with a nice goal with assists from Mary Harding and Chris Peterson. How did All Finnish respond? With a goal from keeper David "DK" Kenney with an assist by Captain Pauly (his first point of the tournament!). Tied 1-1, both teams skated hard and had their chances, but finished off the period with no additional goals.

The second period saw a little more action and kept the scorekeepers busy. 2+ minutes in, Ken swooped in for his second of the night, once again with a nice pass from Mary and Jordan. One minute later, last minute All Finnish Game 3 sub, Sasha Panasyuk, was cited for tripping and put in the pen. Fortunately for All Finnish, CS was unable to capitalize during their power play. At 2-1, the game remained very close and competitive. At 3:18, All Finnish's top prospect Mike Kunelius added to his points with an assist from rookie Roman Chicz. This goal only encouraged China Syndrome to react and second year Shuley Cupper (and artistic coordinator) Chris Peterson took a shot from point that found the back of the net (assisted by Ken and Jordan). Second period: 3-2, China Syndrome.

Third period was filled with tension. Would China Syndrome keep their lead and walk away with a 2-0 record or would All Finnish explode and dominate? It certainly seemed like the game would stay at 2-1. All Finnish had their fair share of opportunities, but excellent backchecking by Ken and solid defense helped keep the puck away from China Syndrome's net. In the last five minutes of the period, there was an explosion of offensive. Ken added to his stats with help form assistant captain Matty St. Hilaire and Parkin member, Todd. Showing no mercy, Jordan got a nice breakaway that Todd Parkin fed to him (Mary Harding started the play). Unlike his other breakaways, he actually scored a goal this time. :) To cap off the team's effort, one minute later, Ken added a 6th goal (unassisted). At this point, the scorekeepers were kept so busy with watching the clock and taking notes that we have no idea how the goals were scored.

The game seemed practically over when Kunelius netted a nice goal at 16 second left in the period. He thanks Tony Nichol for the nice pass.


So the final score was 6-3, China Syndrome. Ken is now known as the new Bobby after exploding into action with 5 points for the night. Looks like China Syndrome will make it into the 1st and 2nd place game tomorrow afternoon. Time will tell which game All Finnish will play in.