The Santa Clara Blackhawks completed an impressive weekend
sweep on Sunday, disposing of the Tri-Valley Blue Devils by a 7-3 margin.
The Blackhawks continued where they left off the day before, with aggressive
forechecking and outstanding puck movement to jump to a 6-0 lead.
The visiting Hawks then got a little sloppy in a third period where they
were clearly outplayed, but Santa Clara left no doubt who was going to
leave with the win, scoring the final goal to close out the Devils. Nick
Costa followed up Kyle Nunn's hat
trick performance yesterday with a trifecta of his own today. Costa's
hat trick was a testament to his hard work and smart play. All three
of Costa's goals came off of rebounds or deflections in front. Mitch
Venosta added two goals for the Blackhawks, and single goals were scored
by Patrick Castagna and Shane
Baxley. Castagna assisted
on five other goals for an impressive, six-point game. He also engaged
in a little fisticuffs late in the contest after being jumped by a Blue
Devils player. Castagna's self
defense will cost him a one-game suspension, which will be welcome news
for the Blackhawks' next opponent, the Fresno Jr. Falcons. Other
multi-point performances were turned in by Venosta
(an assist to go along with his two goals), Kyle
Yedlicka (two assists), and Phillip
Wong (three assists). Devon Luna
played a strong game in net, stopping some tough shots along the way, and
turning in a 23-save performance.
It was another quick start for the Black & Red, as they scored
on the opening shift of the game. The play was started by the strong
forechecking work of Kyle Yedlicka. Yedlicka
was a forechecking beast in today's game whenever he was on the ice, disrupting
the Devils' offense and creating numerous turnovers. On this occasion,
a Yedlicka forecheck led to a turnover
to Patrick Castagna. Castagna
wheeled and fired a shot from just inside the right faceoff dot that produced
a fat rebound to the opposite side. Mitch
Venosta was camped all alone on the doorstep and he rapped the rubber
in the basket to make it 1-0 at 14:29. Goaltender Devon
Luna kept it that way with a nice save down low at 13:58. Right
back the other way, Phillip Wong was
denied on two-on-one after taking a centering feed near the crease from
Nick
Costa. Tri-Valley went on the first power play of the game at
10:47 and the Hawks did a fine job of killing it. First, Devon
Luna came up with a sweet pad stop on a hard slapper through traffic
at 10:10. That was the only shot that Tri-Valley would get, thanks
again to some outstanding forechecking, this time by Kyle
Yedlicka and Nick Costa. Santa
Clara then extended its lead to 2-0 at 6:11. After Tri-Valley chipped
the puck out of their zone, Mitch Venosta
gained control and fed the puck back to Kevin
O'Brien. O'Brien zipped a cross-ice
pass to Patrick Castagna near the blueline
and Castagna raced into the Devils'
zone down the left wing. Castagna
sped around two defenders and moved in on the goalie, exposing the five-hole
for the score. The period would end with the Hawks leading 2-0 after
another fine stop by Devon Luna at 4:08
on a second Blue Devils' power play. Luna
rejected the hard slapper and then kept the rebound close enough to cover
at 4:08. More great forechecking work left the Devils sputtering
on the balance of the power play.
Santa Clara put the Blue Devils away with a four-goal second period,
and once again they didn't wait long to light the lamp. Skating with
an extra attacker on a delayed penalty call, Phillip
Wong made a nice play to control the puck and pass down low to Kyle
Nunn. Nunn made the smart play
and fed the puck back out to Dustin Holt
on the point. With lots of traffic in front, Holt
loaded up and shot. The puck deflected off of Phillip
Wong in front and dropped to the ice at the feet of Nick
Costa. Costa did the rest, rapping
the loose puck home to make it 3-0. Santa Clara went on the power
play at 12:53, but they were unable to convert until shortly after the
teams returned to five-on-five. Skating in his own defensive zone,
Patrick
Castagna intercepted a pass and fed it out to Billy
Kiernan. Kiernan skated wide left
through the neutral zone and in deep before centering a pass to the middle.
Tri-Valley's goaltender came out and deflected the centering feed straight
up the middle and it landed on the tape of Shane
Baxley. Baxley wristed it into the
twine to make it 4-0 at 10:34. Kiernan
and Castagna picked up the assists.
Santa Clara waited less than two minutes to extend their lead to 5-0. Phillip
Wong started the play with a pass from center ice over to Nick
Costa who was skating up the left wing. Costa
sped into the Devils' zone and then applied the brakes just inside the
blueline. Costa waited for Patrick
Castagna to skate in deep before feeding him the biscuit near the left
boards. Castagna collected the
pass and then sent a centering feed that caught a defenseman's stick and
floated into the air. The puck dropped to the ice just outside the
crease, and a hard-charging Nick Costa
was there to greet it, racking it home with a one-time swing of the stick.
With a 5-0 lead, the Hawks started to get a little sloppy. Fortunately,
goaltender Devon Luna was there to bail
them out on the first couple of occasions. After a giveaway at 8:15,
Luna
stopped and held an open scoring chance from point-blank range. Another
giveaway led to a 2-on-0 at 6:13, but Luna's
quick move across the crease on the ensuing pass put him in position to
make a great stop on the scoring opportunity. Tri-Valley then shot
themselves in the foot by taking a penalty at 5:26. It would result
in the Blackhawks' only power play goal of the game, at 4:37. After
Tri-Valley had won a face-off in the Hawks' zone, Shaun
Pienkos made a nice play to hold the zone on the ensuing clearing attempt.
Pienkos
then fed the biscuit to fellow blueliner Dustin
Holt who was manning the left point. Holt
fired a shot that was blocked in front. The puck dropped to the ice
and as the goaltender attempted to cover, Patrick
Castagna came in and jabbed at it near the post, jarring the puck loose
and behind the net to Phillip Wong.
The goaltender lost sight of the puck, believing that he had it covered.
Meanwhile,
Wong moved around to the
other side of the net and fed the disk out front to
Nick
Costa. It was a shot that John Costa wouldn't have
missed, and Nick did the trick, dropping
the hat-trick goal home at 4:37. With the teams back at full strength,
Santa Clara's defense was caught pinching and it resulted in a four-on-one
rush at 1:09. The Tri-Valley skater moved in on the odd-man advantage
and used his help as a decoy, scoring on a great shot into the top-corner
to get the Devils on the board and close out the second period scoring.
Tri-Valley came out on fire in the third period, firing puck after puck
at the net. The Blue Devils outshot the Blackhawks by a 15-6 count
in the final period, adding two more goals along the way. With the
big lead, Santa Clara's defense was pinching offensively in hopes of scoring
a goal or two for the blueliners. And when Tri-Valley had the puck
in the Santa Clara zone, the Hawks' forwards were not backchecking like
they had earlier, instead cheating toward the blueline looking for outlet
passes from the defense. This scenario cost the Hawks on the Devils'
first goal of the final period, which came at 12:52. With three Tri-Valley
men down low in the Hawks' zone, Santa Clara had two defenseman occupying
them when a shot was delivered on goal. Devon
Luna made the save, but there was no help to sweep the rebound clear
and a second shot was delivered that Luna
also saved. Again, there was no help to sweep the rebound clear,
and the Devils delivered their third shot top shelf and into the net for
the score. At 8:47, Tri-Valley narrowed the gap to 6-3 on a pinpoint,
slapshot rocket from just inside the right face-off circle. Santa
Clara then took a penalty at 8:05 and Tri-Valley sniffed a chance to get
back in the game. At this point in the period, the Devils were outshooting
the Hawks 12-1, and with a power play ensuing, this game was not over.
But to the Hawks' credit, they were again solid on the penalty kill and
the Devils were unable to convert. Tri-Valley then took a penalties
of their own at 6:13, and subsequently at 2:38 that snuffed any remaining
chance for a comeback. In between, Santa Clara nailed the lid shut
on Mitch Venosta's second goal of the
game, coming at 3:01. Venosta collected
a rebound on a shot by Patrick Castagna
that rang the post, and deposited it into the back of the net for the final
score. Castagna and Kyle
Yedlicka picked up the assists on the play. With the game out
of reach, these teams got on each other's nerves down the stretch, culminating
in fighting penalties at 1:03. Patrick
Castagna exercised all the reserve he could muster before responding
to two or three punches to the head with a left-right salvo of his own.
Unfortunately, Castagna will have to
sit when the Hawks travel to Fresno to meet the tough Jr. Falcons on November
21st.
Santa Clara moves to 3-0-0 on the season, with just the Fresno game
left before the team takes a NORCAL break and travels to San Diego for
for the Thanksgiving Holiday. The Oakland Bears are right there with
them, sporting a 3-0-0 record of their own. Santa Clara and Oakland
will meet in Oakland in the Hawks' first game after Thanksgiving.
That game promises to be a great match-up of clubs vying for a NORCAL title.
But a rugged Falcons squad stands squarely between this possible match-up
of undefeated teams.
Tri-Valley, 3
| TEAMS |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
TOTAL |
| Blackhawks |
2 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
| Tri-Valley |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Scoring Summary
First Period
Scoring: 1, Blackhawks, Venosta 2 (Castagna,
Yedlicka), 14:29. 2, Blackhawks, Castagna 3 (O'Brien, Venosta), 6:11.
Penalties:
O'Brien, Santa Clara (roughing), 10:47; O'Brien, Santa Clara (elbowing),
4:28; Perna, Tri-Valley (holding), 1:52.
Second Period
Scoring: 3, Blackhawks, Costa 1 (Holt, Wong),
13:16. 4, Blackhawks, Baxley 1 (Kiernan, Castagna), 10:34.
5, Blackhawks, Costa 2 (Castagna, Wong), 8:38. 6, Blackhawks, Costa
3 (Wong, Castagna), 4:37 (pp). 7, Tri-Valley, Ky. Forster (Barrera),
1:09. Penalties: Barrera, Tri-Valley (roughing), 12:53;
Perna, Tri-Valley (roughing), 5:26; Perna, Tri-Valley (boarding),
4:10.
Third Period
Scoring: 8, Tri-Valley, Noble (Ku. Forster,
Block), 12:52. 9, Tri-Valley, Ky. Forster (Wong, Davis), 8:47.
10, Blackhawks, Venosta 3 (Castagna, Yedlicka), 3:32. Penalties:
Peterson, Tri-Valley (elbowing), 12:20; Castagna, Santa Clara (holding),
8:05; Lee, Tri-Valley (hooking), 6:13; Noble, Tri-Valley (roughing),
2:38; Baxley, Santa Clara (interference), 2:15; Peterson, Tri-Valley
(elbowing), 1:40; Yedlicka, Santa Clara (roughing), 1:40; Castagna,
Santa Clara (5:00 major, fighting and a game misconduct), 1:03; Block,
Tri-Valley (5:00 major, fighting and a game misconduct), 1:03.
SHOTS ON GOAL
| Santa Clara |
15
|
10
|
6
|
--31 |
| Tri-Valley |
7
|
4
|
15
|
--26 |
Power-play Conversions: Santa Clara - 1 of 7;
Tri-Valley - 0 of 4. Goalies: Santa Clara, Luna (26 shots,
23 saves; record 2-0-0). Tri-Valley, Aimonnetti (31 shots, 24 saves).
Plus/Minus: +4(Castagna);
+2(Venosta,
Yedlicka, O'Brien); +1(Baxley, Costa, Fredericks, Hernandez,
Pienkos, Wong);
even(Holt, Kiernan, Nunn);
DNP(Draper, Brevoort).
Hits: 5(O'Brien); 3(Castagna);
2(Baxley,
Yedlicka); 1(Hernandez, Holt, Nunn).
Ourhawks
Beat Theirhawks to Open Season, 5-2
