The first goal of the game came when the Racers Pat Stapleton blasted a
shot from the point and the Stingers goalie Norm LaPointe made a routine save with his
glove. But he dropped the puck from his glove and Brian McDonald nabbed it and flipped it
past LaPointe for the score. The Stingers Peter Marsh answered at 11:25 when he and Blaine
Stoughton skated down the ice two-on-two with Stoughton dropping the puck for Marsh. Marsh
then slapped a shot from the left circle to beat former Stinger Paul Hoganson for the
score. But the Racers scored again after Norm LaPointe gave up a rebound from right in
front of the net on a shot by Reg Thomas. Blair MacDonald drilled the rebound past
LaPointe for the score. Despite the Stingers outshooting the Racers in the first period 14
to 6, Cincinnati was trailing in the game.
|
© Courtesy of Cincinnati
Public Library. |
Indianapolis' Ken Block checks Stinger Peter
Marsh off of his feet. |
In the second period, Blair
MacDonald scored again to put the Stingers up by a score of 3-1. MacDonald nabbed the puck
at the Cincinnati blue line after it bounced off a defenseman on Thomas' shot. MacDonald
tapped in a high shot that LaPointe missed. In the middle of the period, Stingers team
captain Rick Dudley and Racers Kim Clackson broke out in a fight. The fight began after
Blair MacDonald was called for tripping. All three were sent to the penalty box which gave
Cincinnati a one man advantage. But Cincinnati failed to score during the opportunity.
Later in the period, the Stingers Bryan Maxwell and former Stinger Dave Inkpen got into a
little scuffle which resulted in Maxwell leaving the ice due to an altercation with
referee Bill Friday.
During the third period the Stingers
came back and tied the game up with goals by Peter Marsh and Claude Larose. Marsh's goal
came when teammate Rich Leduc fed him the puck from behind the Racers net. Marsh then
triggered a hard shot from about 12 feet out in the slot. Claude Laroses goal came at 2:05
in the period when he took a shot from the circle and scored when Hoganson couldn't handle
the puck at the side of the net. Former Stinger Dave Inkpen was sent to the penalty box
after a hooking call at 5:40, but instead of the Stingers scoring on their power play, it
was the Racers who scored instead. McDonald took the puck at center ice and beat Stoughton
on the boards. McDonalds then skated up to the net and knocked in the puck to retake the
lead. The Racers scored one more time before the game ended at 13:00 when Blair MacDonald
captured a loose puck near the edge of the left circle. He knocked the puck in with a
wrist shot from a hard angle for the score.
The Stingers loss put the club at
deaths door in the playoffs. The club would have to win all of their remaining games to
advance to round two. A feat in which proved to tough of a task for the young club. |
