Midget-A1 2004/2005 Ice Hockey Team
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JR. SHARKS |
HOCKEY ASSOC. |
DRAGONS |
EXPRESS |
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BLACKHAWKS |
JR. SHARKS |
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DRAGONS |
EXPRESS |
| Date | Day | Time |
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Result |
| 8-Apt-05 | Friday |
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Logitech Ice |
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W, 8-2 |
| 9-Apr-05 | Saturday | 2:30 PM |
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W, 4-1 |
| 9-Apr-05 | Saturday | 9:45 PM | Logitech Ice | @ San Jose Jr. Sharks | W, 8-1 |
| 10-Apr-05 | Sunday | 2:45 PM | Logitech Ice | Valencia Express | W, 3-2 |
Hawks Soar to Back-to-Back Titles!
April 10, 2005Overshadowed by the Oakland Bears in the regular season, and by the San Jose Jr. Sharks in the NORCAL playoffs, the Santa Clara Blackhawks rose to the occasion in crunch time to go undefeated in the CAHA tournament and win the State championship in a tense, 3-2 battle with the Valencia Express. Eric Fruen, Billy Kiernan, and Kyle Yedlicka were the goal-scoring heroes today, but this entire squad scaled the CAHA mountain as a Team, with everyone chipping in. Ten different Hawks' players scored goals in the four CAHA games and fourteen players registered points. Every line and both goalies played pivotal roles throughout the entire series, and never was that more important than in today's game, when Billy Kiernan put the Blackhawks ahead for good with his body-sacrificing one-timer late in the first period. In all, Santa Clara registered nine points today, with each of those points coming from different players. In addition to the three goals, assists were had by Kevin O'Brien, Phillip Wong, Nick Costa, Shane Baxley, Patrick Castagna, and Mitch Venosta. Goaltender Willie Matthews was at the top of his game, making twenty-three saves, including five tough stops during a frenzied final 1:37.
The Express put up a good fight, playing much better hockey than they had in round robin play when the Blackhawks pummeled them, 8-2. Though the ice was tilted decidedly in the Hawks' favor for most of this game, Valencia hung in there on the strength of solid goaltending and much better defense than they had shown on Friday. Fortunately, Santa Clara expected nothing less from the Express and they were prepared for a much closer game. The fired-up Blackhawks wanted another quick start and they got it when they scored at the 13:30 mark of the opening period. Kevin O'Brien started the play with a big hit behind his own net to jar loose the puck from an Express skater. Derek Fredericks then picked it up and slid it around the boards, where O'Brien helped it along. A defenseman trying to hold the zone was met by Phillip Wong at the left point and Wong was able to punch the puck back through the neutral zone, where Eric Fruen chased it down behind the trailing defense. Fruen moved in on the breakaway and lifted a backhand shot over the goalie's shoulder, drawing first blood for the Blackahwks. With that, it looked like another rout might be in the making. But Valencia did what they needed to do, responding quickly with a rebound goal on a 2-on-2 rush at 10:43 to knot the game at 1-1. At 9:57, Valencia earned the first power play of the contest. They were unable to generate much of a threat and the power play expired early when the Express were whistled for a two-minute minor at 8:49. With the teams skating four-on-four, Willie Matthews came up with two big saves near the 8:20 mark, the second of which he was able to cover. The Blackhawks regained their lead on a bang-bang goal from Billy Kiernan at 2:11. After skating into the Valencia zone, Shane Baxley was checked off the puck, but he worked hard to chase it down and poke it into the corner where Billy Kiernan battled for it with two defenders. Baxley come over to help and in the process he pushed his shadowing defender into the crowd. Three Express skaters collided and that allowed Kiernan to skate out of the pack with the puck. Kiernan shot it in behind the net and then broke for the crease. Nick Costa ran down the puck and immediately sent a drop pass out front. The goaltender was watching the play and he attempted the pokecheck, but the hustling Kiernan got there first, leaving his feet to ram home the one-timer. At the end of one period of play, Santa Clara held a 2-1 lead and a 14-7 shots-on-goal advantage.
The second period was a scoreless affair, but it wasn't without its moments. At 13:27, Eric Fruen rang a shot off the post. Valencia earned their second opportunity to skate on the power play at 12:43. The penalty-kill unit of Shane Baxley, Nick Costa, Derek Fredericks and Kevin O'Brien took the ice and did the job, gaining icing plays from Costa and Fredericks. Back at even strength, Willie Matthews was tested at 10:30 on a shot that hit a body and changed directions. But Matthews responded with cat-like reflexes to get a pad on the shot. Eric Fruen had another breakaway chance at 9:19, but the Express netminder made a great glove save to rob #9. Valencia had a golden scoring opportunity of their own denied by Willie Matthews at 7:35. An Express skater found an open lane and he moved in on Matthews, delivering a series of head fakes. But Matthews stayed square to the play and he rejected the scoring chance. Next to be denied was Kyle Nunn. Getting a step on the defense, Nunn came in on a breakaway, but these goaltenders were matching saves, save-for-save, and this time it was Valencia's turn to come up with the big-time denial. The last good chance of the period belonged to the Express. A Blackhawks' giveaway turned into a near breakaway for the Express at 1:50, but Chase Brevoort made a body-stretching dive to break up the play. The clock wound down and the second period went into the books with the Blackhawks still clinging to a 2-1 lead.
Santa Clara opened the final period with a fresh ice cut, and they used the frozen glass to their advantage just as they had to open the game, with a quick strike. The sequence started with nice a forecheck by Mitch Venosta to chip out a puck that the Express had controlled behind their own net. The turnover drifted out to Patrick Castagna, who collected it and moved into the corner before spotting Venosta with a pass behind the Express net. Venosta attempted to bring the puck out front, but the goalie poke-checked it back towards the corner. Castagna retrieved it there and immediately sent a centering feed out to Venosta, who one-timed it just inside the post, but the Valencia goalie had the corner covered and he made the toe save, sending the puck back behind the net. Venosta kept working, chasing the biscuit down along the side boards and passing back to Castagna who was camped at the side of the net. Castagna delivered a centering feed that was blocked right back at him, so he took a shot at the net himself. The shot was saved, but the loose change dropped to the ice and Kyle Yedlicka wasted no time making the deposit, slipping the rubber rebound into the safe deposit box. That gave the Blackhawks a two-goal cushion at 14:10. But the insurance goal was a short-term policy that expired 2:14 later when Valencia scored on the power play. With his back to the net, a Valencia player in the slot took a centering feed from the side boards, and he shot as he spun around towards the net. It was a hard-to-read delivery and it twisted the twine at 11:56. Santa Clara's best chance to regain their two-goal advantage came at 7:05, but the Express netminder delivered a goal-denying kick save on Mitch Venosta. The Blackhawks' defense had pretty much shut down the Express for most of the third period, but with the game on the line, Valencia began to get the puck in on Willie Matthews. At 1:37, Matthews stopped a hard slapshot, but the rebound spun off to the open side of the net, where garbage collectors love to live. It took a lightning-quick, side-to-side move by Matthews to deny the rebound shot, and that's exactly what he delivered. Matthews then came up with two more huge saves at 1:14, after a blind centering pass from the side boards hit a Valencia skater on the tape for a point-blank one-timer. Matthews delivered the first save and then he stuck with the short rebound and stuffed and held the follow-up effort. But the Blackhawks were forced to take a penalty on the play and that gave the Express 1:11 of power play time in which to score. A big face-off win by Patrick Castagna followed, and that allowed Shaun Pienkos to ice the puck. The Hawks did a nice job to pester the power play unit, but they eventually got off a good-look slapshot at 0:25 that was held by Matthews. That was the last shot that the Express would get as the final seconds ticked off the clock, securing the CAHA championship banner for the Santa Clara Blackhawks.
With the victory, Santa Clara claims its second straight Midget-A CAHA championship. It was a collective effort from a talented and determined group of young men. And while a number of Hawks players are aging out of the Midget Division, there is still a solid nucleus of talent left to carry the torch. How about a three-peat, Hal?
BOX SCORE
TEAMS 1st 2nd 3rd TOTAL Valencia 1 0 1 2 Blackhawks 2 0 1 3 Scoring Summary
First Period
Scoring: 1, Blackhawks, Fruen 4 (Wong, O'Brien), 13:30. 2, Valencia, Dufresne (Barrett), 10:43. 3, Blackhawks, Kiernan 1 (Costa, Baxley), 2:11. Penalties: Pienkos, Santa Clara (interference), 9:57; Hixon, Valencia (slashing), 8:49; Rice, Valencia (tripping), 0:25.Second Period
Scoring: None. Penalties: Pienkos, Santa Clara (interference), 12:43; Fredericks, Santa Clara (head contact), 8:06; Wright, Valencia (roughing), 8:06; Wong, Santa Clara (unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:00; Hixon, Valencia (unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:00; Wright, Valencia (unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:00. McCarty, Valencia (holding), 1:10; Baxley, Santa Clara (roughing), 1:10. ,Third Period
Scoring: 4, Blackhawks, Yedlicka 3 (Castagna, Venosta), 14:10. 5, Valencia, Mersola (Barrett, Wright), 11:56 (pp). Penalties: Castagna, Santa Clara (hooking), 13:31; McCarty, Valencia (roughing), 5:12; S. Barrett, Valencia (10:00 misconduct), 3:28; Brevoort, Santa Clara (holding), 1:11; McCarty, Valencia (double-minor, roughing & unsportsmanlike conduct and 10:00 misconduct), 0:15; Castagna, Santa Clara (holding), 0:15.SHOTS ON GOAL
Power-play Conversions: Santa Clara -0 of 4; Valencia - 1 of 4. Goalies: Santa Clara, Matthews (23 shots, 21 saves; record 3-0-0). Valencia, Tartaglia (38 shots, 35 saves).
Valencia 7 8 10 --25 Santa Clara 14 12 12 --38 Plus/Minus: +2(Fredericks); +1(Baxley, Brevoort, Costa, Kiernan, Nunn, Pienkos, Venosta, Wong); even(Castagna, Draper, Fruen, Holt, O'Brien, Yedlicka); DNP(Hernandez).
Hits: 3(O'Brien); 2(Wong); 1(Baxley, Castagna, Fruen).
Three Stars of the Game
Billy Kiernan - Works his tail off every second and it paid off in spades when he scored the biggest goal in the biggest game.
Kyle Yedlicka - At both ends of the ice, he has been a star in the playoffs and today he bagged the third-period, game winner.
Willie Matthews - Played huge when it mattered most, making five spectacular stops in the final 1:37 to save it for the Hawks.
April 9, 2005The Santa Clara Blackhawks chalked up another impressive win in the State Championship playoffs this evening, trouncing the San Jose Jr. Sharks, 8-1. While the game had no playoff implications, the Blackhawks earned a pound of redemption after their disappointing overtime shootout loss to the Jr. Sharks in the NORCAL championship game. That's a banner that San Jose can have because Santa Clara has come back to outscore its NORCAL and SCAHA competition by a 20-4 margin in CAHA round robin play while compiling a 3-0-0 record, and they are the last team standing in NORCAL. With the round robin sweep, the Hawks have earned the right to wear their home whites when they host the Valencia Express for the California Championship on Sunday at 2:45 PM.
While the primary goal of this evening's game was to stay healthy for tomorrow, most of the squad had to feel like there was unfinished business left over from last weekend. San Jose put up a good fight early, but Santa Clara eventually got on a roll and it wasn't over until Shane Baxley put the icing on the cake with a great individual effort for the Hawks' eighth goal in the final minute of play. Patrick Castagna led the charge with a hat trick and an assist. Kyle Yedlicka had two goals and one assist, Eric Fruen had one goal and two assists, and Kyle Nunn also scored a goal. Defenseman Dustin Holt was an assist machine in this contest, notching four helpers on the team's first six goals. Additional assists were had by Nick Costa and Phillip Wong (two apiece), Mitch Venosta, Shane Baxley, Derek Fredericks, Shaun Pienkos and Billy Kiernan (one each). While he had plenty of offensive help, Devon Luna turned in one of his best games of the season, stopping thirty-three of thirty-four shots to nail down the win.
In fairness to the Jr. Sharks, it had to be difficult to get motivated for this game after suffering two come-from-ahead losses in the last seconds of play to both Valencia and Bakersfield. And whatever goal of pride or respect that they could muster was dealt a blow right out of the gates when Patrick Castagna connected on a wrister from the slot just fourteen seconds into the game. But the Jr. Sharks came back to tie it on a backhand goal off a two-on-one rush at 12:42. The puck just barely got past Luna, trickling through him and over the line. That's all that the Jr. Sharks would get against the Double-Nickel backstop. At 11:13, Luna made a spectacular save off a one-timer on a three-on-one rush. At 10:45, San Jose was whistled for the first of what would turn out to be several unusual calls that went against both teams. In all, the orange-banded zebra called twenty-seven penalties in a game that wasn't played with the kind of intensity that you would think necessary to draw that many calls. Along the way, he doled out four head contact penalties (a rarity), a bogus checking from behind penalty, and five, ten-minute misconduct penalties, of which maybe one was deserved. If this is what "controlling the game" means, then you have to applaud this official, because he did all he could to make it all about him. Between all the whistles, Santa Clara scored a shorthanded goal at 1:00 to take a 2-1 lead from which they would never look back. Kyle Yedlicka whipped it into the net from the front porch, taking a pass from behind the net delivered by Patrick Castagna. Dustin Holt also picked up an assist on the play, his first of four.
Devon Luna opened up the second period with with two more huge saves at 14:14, the second of which was an alert pad save on a rebound after Luna had gone down to make the first stop. Luna rejected another shot from close range at 13:00, and that's when the Blackhawks offense took over. After a strong forecheck by Patrick Castagna to jar loose the puck, Kyle Yedlicka took passes from Dustin Holt and Nick Costa before moving to the middle and rifling a shot that zipped past the goaltender, catching the inside of the glovehand post and lighting the lamp. Two nice drop passes from Phillip Wong and Eric Fruen led to the Blackhawks next score, a slapshot cranked off by Kyle Nunn from the center slot at 10:24. Devon Luna then chipped in at the other end, denying an open shot from point-blank range at 9:57. Next up for the Blackhawks was Eric Fruen, who banged home a rebound shot from Phillip Wong during a Blackhawks' power play at 6:32. Dustin Holt also assisted on the play. The second period scoring was capped by Patrick Castagna's second goal - one that he worked hard for by shooting, chasing down the rebound behind the net, taking it back out front and shooting again, and then sticking with the second-chance rebound and depositing it into the net. Dustin Holt earned his fourth assist of the game when he dumped the puck in the zone, and Mitch Venosta also figured in the scoring when he chased it down and fed the biscuit to Castagna. The four-goal outburst increased the Blackhawks lead to 6-1 to close out the period.
Santa Clara extended it's lead to 7-1 on Patrick Castagna's hat rick tally at 8:07 of the final period. Shane Baxley took an outlet pass off the boards from Derek Fredericks, and fed it ahead to Castagna at the Jr. Sharks' blueline. Castagna then sliced through the defensive cheese, took a shot that came back to him off the goalie's pads, and then he pounced on the rebound for the put-back goal. San Jose had a golden opportunity to get one back on a breakaway at 6:42, but Devon Luna stuck with the shot and stuffed it. The Blackhawks added their final goal at 0:57, and it was a sweet one. On a face-off in their own end, the puck ping-ponged in traffic off of Shaun Pienkos, over to Billy Kiernan, out to a defenseman, back in to Pienkos and then back out into the neutral zone where a defenseman misplayed it and Shane Baxley grabbed control The defender did the right thing and attempted to play the man, but the man made a nice move to get around the clinging defender and take the puck inside, where a nifty little deke to the backhand opened up the net and Baxley undressed the goalkeep, slipping the biscuit past his fallen jock strap for the score.
While the Blackhawks were dismantling the Jr. Sharks at one end of Logitech Ice, the Valencia Express and the Bakersfield Dragons were engaging in a thriller on the south rink. Valencia scored first and held the 1-0 lead into the third period, but the Dragons came back to tie the game, 1-1, a score that held until the end of regulation. The contest then went to overtime, where the Express earned a title-tilt rematch against Hawks by nailing home the game winner.
After eight months, fifty-two games, forty wins, 1,611 shots on goal, 1,205 saves, and 10,000 web site hits, Santa Clara has an opportunity to claim the title as the State's Best in game number fifty-three.
BOX SCORE
TEAMS 1st 2nd 3rd TOTAL Blackhawks 2 4 2 8 San Jose 1 0 0 1 Scoring Summary
First Period
Scoring: 1, Blackhawks, Castagna 3 (Yedlicka, Costa), 14:46. 2, San Jose, Dickson (Dickerson), 12:42. 3, Blackhawks, Yedlicka 1 (Castagna, Holt), 1:00 (sh). Penalties: Sanchez, San Jose (minor, tripping and 10:00 misconduct), 10:45; Wong, Santa Clara (minor, checking from behind and 10:00 misconduct), 9:42; Rhodes, San Jose (head contact), 8:36; O'Brien, Santa Clara (roughing), 8:36; Fruen, Santa Clara (slashing), 4:41; Legge, San Jose (slashing), 3:16; O'Brien, Santa Clara (minor, tripping and 10:00 misconduct), 2:59; Holt, Santa Clara (head contact), 0:40.Second Period
Scoring: 4, Blackhawks, Yedlicka 2 (Costa, Holt), 12:47. 5, Blackhawks, Nunn 3 (Wong, Fruen), 10:24. 6, Blackhawks, Fruen 3 (Holt, Wong), 6:32 (pp). 7, Blackhawks, Castagna 4 (Venosta, Holt), 4:49. Penalties: Brister, San Jose (tripping), 8:23; Wagner, San Jose (slashing), 7:05; Fredericks, Santa Clara (head contact), 3:33; Sanders, San Jose (minor, tripping and 10:00 misconduct), 2:49.Third Period
Scoring: 8, Blackhawks, Castagna 5 (Baxley, Fredericks), 8:07. 9, Blackhawks, Baxley 1 (Pienkos, Kiernan), 0:52. Penalties: Yedlicka, Santa Clara (delay of game), 14:17; Holt, Santa Clara (head contact), 12:36; Wagner, San Jose (slashing), 12:36; Rhodes, San Jose (tripping), 10:48; Legge, San Jose (minor, slashing and 10:00 misconduct), 6:58; Yedlicka, Santa Clara (double minor, slashing, roughing), 5:32; Hogan, San Jose (roughing), 5:32; Sanders, San Jose (tripping), 4:53; Draper, San Jose (charging), 0:00.SHOTS ON GOAL
Power-play Conversions: Santa Clara - 1 of 8; San Jose - 0 of 7. Goalies: Santa Clara, Luna (34 shots, 33 saves; record 1-0-0). San Jose, Vina (33 shots, 25 saves).
Santa Clara 9 16 8 --33 San Jose 10 12 12 --34 Plus/Minus: +5(Castagna, Pienkos); +4(Holt, Yedlicka); +3(Kiernan); +2(Baxley, Costa, Fredericks, Draper); +1(Venosta); even(Fruen, Nunn, Wong); -1(O'Brien); DNP(Brevoort, Hernandez).
Hits: 2(Costa, Holt, O'Brien); 1(Castagna, Kiernan, Pienkos, Wong).
Patrick Castagna - Notched a hat trick in the warm-up for tomorrow's Big Game. 4 points/1 hit and a plus/minus of +5.
Dustin Holt - Assisted on four of the Blackhawks first six goals; registered two hits and was a +5 for the game.
Devon Luna - Capped perfect 3-0-0 playoff record with a 33-save performance over NORCAL champs.
April 9, 2005Coming into today's game against the Bakersfield Dragons, Santa Clara knew that they were going to face a much tougher match-up than they did yesterday when they spanked the SCAHA-champion Valencia Express, 8-2. And when Bakersfield scored first, on a shorthanded goal at 12:09 of the opening period, it was crystal clear that the Hawks were up against a challenge. Bakersfield is a bend-but-don't break team that does not make a lot of mistakes defensively, and then relies on one or two explosive forwards and solid goaltending to win games. That formula is one that can spell trouble for the Blackhawks and it did so today, in a game that was not decided until the final minutes of play. Phillip Wong and Eric Fruen were today's offensive stars, with Wong tallying both the tying goal and the game winner. Fruen scored the ever-important insurance goal and assisted on both of Wong's scores. Patrick Castagna added an empty netter at the end to go with his one assist, and Kyle Nunn, Kyle Yedlicka, Dustin Holt and Derek Fredericks each picked up a single assist. In a game that was tight nearly all the way, Willie Matthews was spectacular in net, making twenty-four saves to earn the victory. With Santa Clara's win and San Jose's loss, the Blackhawks clinch a spot in tomorrow's CAHA Championship game, where they will face the winner of tonight's Bakersfield versus Valencia game.
While the Blackhawks handily outshot Bakersfield in this game, the Dragons had many good scoring opportunities, some of which they simply misfired on and others that ran head-on into the Willie Wall. But the first good scoring chance that Bakersfield had, was a successful one. After a Blackhawks' turnover on a power play breakout, Bakersfield's speed burner grabbed the puck and skated wide into the Hawks' zone. When he got deep, he sent the puck toward the net from an improbable angle, nearly parallel to the goal line. The puck tipped off a defenseman's stick and the re-direct slipped past Matthews and into the net. From that point forward, Matthews was impenetrable. He came up big, with a one-timer save, at 10:13. The Dragons had a chance at an open net on the follow-up but the misfire sailed wide of the net. At 12:39, Bakersfield was whistled for a penalty, giving the Blackhawks a chance on the power play. The Hawks used the man advantage to score, though the goal actually came five seconds after the penalty expired. Kyle Nunn did a nice job on the set-up to control the puck behind the Dragons net, before he spotted a pass out to Patrick Castagna, who was manning the point, about ten feet inside the blueline. Castagna shot a wrister that the goalie saved with Eric Fruen and Phillip Wong crowding him around the net. All the traffic worked to create a rebound that Fruen was able to direct over to Wong, and Wong pounded it home to make it 1-1. The period would end that way thanks to a huge save from Willie Matthews on a 2-on-1 at 3:03, and then another play by Matthews when he ventured far out of the net in an effort to beat an onrushing skater to the puck. Matthews actually lost the skate-race, but he still has the presence of mind to stay square and reject the ensuing shot.
Neither team was able to score in a nail-biting, second period of play. Bakersfield's goaltender was able to make a save on Phillip Wong's follow-up of a Shaun Pienkos slapshot at 13:17. He came up with an even bigger save on Wong when he went far out of the net to challenge him on a short breakaway at 10:41. At 7:19, defenseman Shaun Pienkos made a spectacular play to break up a 2-on-1 Dragons' rush. Bakersfield collected their second power play of the period at 5:50, and they missed out on two golden opportunities to regain the lead. At 5:36, Willie Matthews delivered a heads-up save, and then at 5:10, a Dragons' skater moved in to redirect a shot that clearly found Matthews' five-hole open. But fortunately for the Blackhawks, the shot then caromed off of Matthews' trailing skate and back into play, where the Hawks were able to steer it wide. The period ended with the teams still square at 1-1.
After a scoreless second period, it took Santa Clara just ten seconds to score in the third. Bakersfield won the draw at center ice and a defenseman immediately flipped the puck into the air back toward center ice. Phillip Wong used his Louisville Slugger skills to bat the puck out of the air like a baseball, back to the Dragons' blueline, where Eric Fruen collected it and advanced into the zone. Meanwhile, Wong made a beeline for the net and as he approached the crease, Fruen sent the puck slicing towards the net, and Wong got the stick out to redirect it into the net and give Santa Clara a 2-1 lead. The score stayed that way for the next ten minutes. Holding a one-goal lead, the Blackhawks battened down the hatches and were playing solid defense, something that they had not done in the opening period. Meanwhile, the Hawks were getting good scoring chances of their own, but Bakersfield's goaltender was making the initial saves and pouncing on the rebounds. One such save came at 7:09, when Kyle Yedlicka powered between two defenders to get off a good backhand shot from close range. But the Dragons' goalie ate it up and held on. After forty minutes of tense hockey, Santa Clara scored an insurance goal at 4:41 to give them a little bit of breathing room. This goal was much like the Blackhawks' first goal in that it came immediately after a power play expired. Derek Fredericks started the play from behind his own net, where he changed directions to get past one forechecker, and then skated around a second to get to his own blueline. Fredericks then hit a charging Eric Fruen with a crisp blueline-to-blueline pass and Fruen cruised in down the left wing, before stopping just outside the left face-off dot, and fired a slapshot that went off the goaltender's glove and into the net. Santa Clara continued to deny the Blackhawks opportunities down the stretch and the Hawks put it away for good with an empty-netter from Patrick Castagna at 0:19.
Santa Clara will meet San Jose later tonight in a meaningless game. It is a contest that the Blackhawks will work hard to win for pride's sake, but the focus really needs to be on tomorrow's championship game, and keeping everyone fresh and as healty as possible. With fifty-one games in the books, the Santa Clara Blackhawks have an opportunity to claim the most coveted goal of all in game fifty-three, California's Midget-A State Hockey Championship.
BOX SCORE
TEAMS 1st 2nd 3rd TOTAL Bakersfield 1 0 0 1 Blackhawks 1 0 3 4 Scoring Summary
First Period
Scoring: 1, Bakersfield, Horn (Downs), 12:09 (sh). 2, Blackhawks, Wong 1 (Fruen, Castagna), 10:34. Penalties: Cagle, Bakersfield (high-sticking), 12:39; Cagle, Bakersfield (unsportsmanlike conduct), 0:05; Castagna, Santa Clara (unsportsmanlike conduct), 0:05.Second Period
Scoring: None. Penalties: B. Genter, Bakersfield (hooking), 14:22; Baxley, Santa Clara (interference), 13:13; Yedlicka, Santa Clara (slashing), 5:50.Third Period
Scoring: 3, Blackhawks, Wong 2 (Fruen, Nunn), 14:50. 4, Blackhawks, Fruen 2 (Fredericks), 4:40. 5, Blackhawks, Castagna 3 (Yedlicka, Holt), 0:19. Penalties: O'Brien, Santa Clara (tripping), 10:26; Hutton, Bakersfield (hooking), 6:47; O'Brien, Santa Clara (holding), 0:58.SHOTS ON GOAL
Power-play Conversions: Santa Clara - 0 of 3; Bakersfield - 0 of 4. Goalies: Santa Clara, Matthews (25 shots, 24 saves; record 2-0-0). Bakersfield, Cook (47 shots, 44 saves; empty net goal).
Santa Clara 20 15 13 --48 Bakersfield 11 6 8 --25 Plus/Minus: +3(Fruen, Nunn, Pienkos, Wong); +2(Holt); +1(Castagna); even(Baxley, Brevoort, Costa, Fredericks, Kiernan, O'Brien, Draper, Yedlicka); -1(Venosta); DNP(Hernandez).
Hits: 3(Castagna); 2(Baxley, Brevoort, Costa, Wong); 1(Fredericks, Fruen, O'Brien).
Phillip Wong - Busted tail start to finish, delivering game-tying and winning goals, as well as 2 hits and a plus/minus of +3.
Willie Matthews - After giving up early goal, Matthews was perfect the rest of the way, enabling his team to rally for the win.
Eric Fruen - His heat-seeking goal may have been overshadowed by his laser guided pass on game-winning assist.
April 8, 2005The SCAHA-Champion Valencia Express had the misfortune this evening to line up against a Santa Clara Blackhawks squad that has been chomping at the bit for almost a week to wash the bad taste of Shark out of its mouth. As a result, the Blackhawks buzzsaw cut right through the Express, slicing and dicing them for five goals in the first period on their way to a 8-2 romp. Kyle Nunn and Patrick Castagna each scored two goals for the Blackhawks, with single goals coming from Eric Fruen, Nick Costa, Mitch Venosta, and Dustin Holt. In all, eleven Blackhawks' players registered points in the game. Three-point nights were had by Nunn (two goals, one assist), Fruen (one goal, two assists), and Phillip Wong (three assists). In addidtion to Castagna's, two-point performances were turned in by Venosta (one goal, one assist), Kyle Yedlicka, Derek Fredericks, and Shaun Pienkos (two assists each). Willie Matthews was tested infrequently, but stepped up when he was needed to make seventeen saves on nineteen shots to pick up the win.
The Express were certainly a team not to be taken lightly. They compiled a 17-2-3 record in SCAHA regular season and playoff action. But Santa Clara has faced tough teams with impressive records before and they have performed well against some of the best Midget hockey teams in the West. The Hawks were sharp right out of the gate today, generating a two-on-one at 13:30 with Kyle Nunn setting up Eric Fruen with a nice pass that Fruen shot just wide. But this line would get another chance soon enough, with different results. After a Express player fanned on a one-timer in the Hawks' zone, Nunn tipped the puck ahead to Fruen, who then passed wide to Phillip Wong. Wong zipped down the left wing and circled behind the net before sending a centering feed out front. The pass was on the tape to Kyle Nunn, who popped it into the ccorner of the net, top shelf. Santa Clara had drawn first blood at 12:11. The Blackahwks then earned a power play at 11:41, but they were unable to do much with the puck. But when they next skated on the power play, at 6:17, they would tack on their second goal. Not only would the Hawks score on the man-advantage, but they would rack up a total of five goals in a span of just 5:46. The power play goal was started when Derek Fredericks reeled in an icing play and sent an outlet pass to Phillip Wong, who skated cross-ice, from right to left, as he moved into the Valencia zone. Wong then made a tight little move to get around one defender before sending a pass across the slot to Eric Fruen. Fruen collected the bicuit and used the slingshot to deposit it into the net, glove-side high, to make it 2-0 at 5:39. Nick Costa made it 3-0 at 4:56. This play started on a give & go pass from Costa to Shane Baxley, that Baxley sent right back to Costa. While he wasn't able to deliver on the one-timer, Costa did manage to chase down the puck along the side boards and then center it out front. The puck deflected off a skate and ricocheted out to Chase Brevoort who was at the center point position. Brevoort directed the puck back inside and the goalie delivered a save that dropped to the ice just long enough for Costa to drill it home. Santa Clara added their fourth goal just over a minute later. After a nice poke check by Kevin O'Brien in the neutral zone, Derek Fredericks made a nifty play to connect with the puck in midair, sending it deep into the Valencia zone, where Kyle Yedlicka chased it down. Yedlicka sent a perfect centering feed out front and Mitch Venosta delivered an even better one-timer shot into the back of the net. Valencia then made a goalie switch and got one back to narrow the gap to 4-1 at 3:09, but Santa Clara simply responded with a goal of their own thirty-four seconds later. This time it was Kyle Nunn starting the play with a quick, neutral zone pass to Phillip Wong that Wong passed ahead to Eric Fruen. Racing into the Express zone, Fruen got tripped up, but he was back on his feet in a flash, in time to deliver a shot that produced a juicy rebound. Kyle Nunn jumped on it and banged it home to give Santa Clara a 5-1 lead that they held for the balance of the period.
When the second period opened, Santa Clara wasted no time letting the Express know that there would be no heroic comeback today. Patrick Castagna won the center-ice draw over to Mitch Venosta and Venosta kicked it ahead, into the Express zone. A Valencia skater attempted to one-time it back out of the zone, but Castagna blocked the pass, giving himself an open breakaway. Castagna went to the backhand and schooled the netminder, increasing Santa Clara's lead to 6-1. Castagna was then robbed on another breakaway just seconds later, temporarily putting the brakes on the Blackhawks' onslaught. With the outcome already decided, the intensity of the hockey went down a couple of notches, though the Express were about to demonstrate with great intensity that they don't handle losing very well. One Express skater was ejected at 9:55 for on-ice antics that then carried over into a tirade in the locker room, and then late in the period, after Santa Clara had extended its lead to 7-1, another Express player was ejected after leaving the bench to launch an airborne assault on Kevin O'Brien - an assault that ended up in a belly-flop when O'Brien ducked under the attack. And with that, after playing 40+ games to get the this point, the SCAHA champions self-destructed in less than thirty minutes, leaving their team shorthanded for at least their next game, if not for the balance of the playoffs. In the case of both ejections, Santa Clara had committed minor penalties that would have resulted in Express power plays had the team exercised an ounce of self control. Instead, Santa Clara ended up with the power plays, and the Express ended up with players being sent to the showers. The aforementioned seventh goal was scored on one of those power plays and good cycling between Kyle Yedlicka and Patrick Castagna got it started. The puck then went out to the point, where defenseman Dustin Holt passed across to fellow blueliner Shaun Pienkos. Pienkos took a shot that was blocked into the air out in front, and it came down at Yedlicka's feet. Instead of firing a shot that would have likely been stopped, Yedlicka had the presence of mind to nudge the puck across the crease to Castagna, who poked it into the net while being driven to the ice.
The final period was anti-climactic, with each team adding a goal. The highlight of the period was Willie Matthews glovehand snag at 6:53. Santa Clara's score came on a power play goal at 1:15 from Dustin Holt. With the puck at the point, Shaun Pienkos passed across to Kyle Nunn, who walked in a few feet and ripped a slapshot that the goalie got in front of. The rebound dropped to the ice and Holt was there to knock it between the pipes.
The Blackhawks will next play the Bakersfield Dragons, 4-3 winners over the San Jose Jr. Sharks. The Dragons look to be a much tougher match-up for the Blackhawks. They played excellent positional hockey against the Jr. Sharks and they have a couple of speedburners on the ice. The Blackhawks will follow-up their Saturday matinee with an late, evening match-up against the Jr. Sharks. These two games will determine if Santa Clara will be playing for the State Championship on Sunday.
BOX SCORE
TEAMS 1st 2nd 3rd TOTAL Valencia 1 0 1 2 Blackhawks 5 2 1 8 Scoring Summary
First Period
Scoring: 1, Blackhawks, Nunn 1 (Wong, Fruen), 12:11. 2, Blackhawks, Fruen 1 (Wong, Fredericks), 5:39 (pp). 3, Blackhawks, Costa 1 (Brevoort, Baxley), 4:56. 4, Blackhawks, Venosta 1 (Yedlicka, Fredericks), 3:46. 5, Valencia, Lee (Rice, Mersola), 3:09. 6, Blackhawks, Nunn 2 (Fruen, Wong), 2:35. Penalties: W. Hixon, Valencia (crosscheck), 11:41; Yedlicka, Santa Clara (interference), 6:17; Barrett, Valencia (double minor, unsportsmanlike conduct), 6:17; Fruen, Santa Clara (unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:35.Second Period
Scoring: 7, Blackhawks, Castagna 1 (Venosta), 14:53. 8, Blackhawks, Castagna 2 (Yedlicka, Pienkos), 7:40 (pp). Penalties: McCarty, Valencia (minor, spearing and game misconduct), 9:55; W. Hixon, Valencia (slashing), 4:23; Yedlicka, Santa Clara (slashing), 4:08; O'Brien, Santa CLara (roughing), 1:25; Curry, Valencia (double minor, unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing); 1:25; Curry, Valencia (10:00 misconduct and game misconduct), 1:25.Third Period
Scoring: 9, Valencia, Lee (#60), 11:54. 10, Blackhawks, Holt 1 (Nunn, Pienkos), 1:15 (pp). Penalties: Wong, Santa Clara (tripping), 3:13; Barrett, Valencia (unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:55; B. Hixon, Valencia (slashing), 1:55.SHOTS ON GOAL
Power-play Conversions: Santa Clara - 3 of 7; Valencia - 0 of 3. Goalies: Santa Clara, Matthews (19 shots, 17 saves; record 1-0-0). Valencia, Walker (10 shots, 6 saves) and Tartaglia (36 shots, 32 saves).
Santa Clara 13 18 15 --46 Valencia 5 6 8 --19 Plus/Minus: +3(O'Brien); +2(Brevoort); +1(Baxley, Castagna, Costa, Fredericks, Fruen, Kiernan, Nunn, Venosta, Yedlicka, Wong); even(Draper, Holt, Pienkos); DNP(Hernandez).
Hits: 2(O'Brien); 1(Castagna).
Kyle Nunn - His nose for the net sniffed out two goals today - along with his helper, it was a 3-point game for #10.
Nick Costa - Hard-work led to rebound goal and he later goaded a Valencia player into taking an Express trip to the showers.
Derek Fredericks - Solid at the blueline and chipped in with two, first-period assists - 2 points and a plus/minus of +1.
CAHA Playoff Stats - Skaters
Player # Games Goals Assists Points Hits +/- PIM Shane Baxley 4/97 4 1 3 4 3 +4 4 Chase Brevoort 56 3 0 1 1 2 +3 2 Patrick Castagna 17 4 6 3 9 6 +7 6 Nick Costa 3 4 1 3 4 4 +4 0 Jacob Draper 27 4 0 0 0 0 +2 2 Derek Fredericks 61 4 0 4 4 1 +5 4 Eric Fruen 9 4 4 5 9 2 +4 4 Aaron Hernandez 5 0 0 0 0 0 even 0 Dustin Holt 23 4 1 5 6 2 +6 4 Billy Kiernan 15 4 1 1 2 1 +5 0 Kyle Nunn 10 4 3 2 5 0 +5 0 Kevin O'Brien 93 4 0 1 1 8 +2 20 Shaun Pienkos 12 4 0 3 3 1 +9 4 Mitch Venosta 13 4 1 3 4 0 +2 0 Phillip Wong 89 4 2 6 8 5 +5 16 Kyle Yedlicka 6 4 3 4 7 0 +5 12 Goalies & Bench - 4 0 0 0 - - 0 Team Totals - 4 23 44 67 35 +68 78 Click on Player's Name for Individual bio
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103 | 6 | 97 | 94.2% | 1.50 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
CAHA Playoffs - Records Teams Record Points Place Santa Clara Blackhawks 4-0-0 8 1st Valencia Express 2-2-0 4 2nd Bakersfield Dragons 1-2-0 2 3rd San Jose Jr. Sharks 0-3-0 0 4th
CAHA Playoffs
Schedule And Game Results
April 8 Bakersfield - 4
San Jose - 3Santa Clara - 8
Valencia - 2April 9 Valencia - 4
San Jose - 3Santa Clara - 4
Bakersfield - 1Santa Clara - 8
San Jose - 1Valencia - 2 (OT)
Bakersfield - 1
CAHA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME April 10, 2005
Santa Clara Blackhawks - 3
Valencia Express - 2
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