What was expected to be a brutal, brawling game
between two Midwest teams provided to be anything but. The game actually was quite calm
and the 12,000 fans that witnessed the event saw little penalties. The matchup instead saw
fabulous goal tending by both Paul Hoganson and Leif Holmquest. Hoganson repelled a
barrage of close Racers shots. However, the Stingers offense did little to help the 26
year old Toronto native.
Right out of the gate, the Stingers had an opportunity
to score a goal when at 58 seconds, Racers left wing Brian Coates was sent to the penalty
box for tripping Rick Dudley. The Stingers launched 4 shots at the Racers Leif Holmquist,
but were all rejected. One of the four shots came from a close-in-rebound, but the
Stingers skated away with nothing during the power play. Five minutes later Paul Hoganson
made a fabulous save when Racers center Bob Fichtner wriggled loose for a break away. He
skated straight at Hoganson and then faked left. Fitchner then shot right, but Hoganson
was not fooled. When the shot was taken, Paul caught the puck between his legs.
Stingers Mike Pelyk was sent to the penalty box for
tripping, which set the Racers up on the power play. At 16:29 the Racers Nick Harbaruk
scored the first goal of the game. Bryan Campbell, John Hughes, Ron Plumb and Bernie
MacNeil all managed to kill most of the penalty time. But the Racers won a face-off
outside the Stingers zone with 10 seconds left in the penalty. Racers center Bob Sicinski
quickly passed to Nick Harbaruk who was free in the slot. He then skated towards the
Stingers net and fired a low liner shot 30 feet back at Hogansons right side. The puck
whizzed by Hogansons glove and into the net for the score. It was Sicinski's 13th goal of
the season.
The Stingers tied the game up at 5:11 with a goal by
Rick Dudley after a face-off. The puck was dropped in the left circle of the Racers zone.
Bryan Campbell turned up with the puck and flipped it to Rick Dudley, who was at the far
edge of the circle. Dudley took the shot with Holmquist getting a piece of the puck with
his glove. The puck hit the ice and landed over the goalline for the score. It was Dudleys
18th score of the season. Campbell was awarded his 27th assist of the season.
With 40 seconds left the Racers made one final attempt
to score a goal. John Hughes was called for interference at 18:00 after he shoved Racers
Brian Costes. The penalty gave the Racers a chance to move ahead again. Pat Stapleton
fired a shot from the point with 40 seconds left in the game but Hoganson blocked the shot
and knocked the puck backwards into the net as Racers Kim Clackson tried to drive the puck
with his skate. Instead the puck bounced out to the boards and the attempt was over.
The third period began with Rick Dudley tripping Blair
McDonald who had a wide open, point blank shot. The Dudley penalty gave the Racers a one
man advantage. An advantage that they made the best of. Nick Harbaruk managed to flip the
puck past Paul Hoganson at 2:08 in the period giving the Racers the lead. The Stingers had
a great opportunity to tie the game after Racers Bob Sicinski was called for tripping at
19:50. Slater pulled Hoganson to give the Stingers a 6-on-4 advantage. But the Stingers
failed to make anything happen. |
