Heartache lost in Master P's return

As the championship pregame ceremonies concluded the Waterford Whalers came out flat in their first game of the season.  Even with the return of local legend Master P, it wasn't enough to motivate the Whalers.  It was a defensive struggle with the Tri-State Allstars, formally known as District 5 throughout the entire game.

Of course our favorite ref Luigi didn't make matters any better by calling some suspect penalties in the third period.  Matt Arena was called for a high sticking penalty, after he was hauled down and beaten to a pulp by a Tri-State player.  He went to the penalty box with a half face grimace.

Trailing in the game 3-2 in the closing minutes, a strategic line change of sitting Montel for more offensive production was reinforced.  A set play of passing to Boytanio in the slot resulted in the game tying goal with 2 minutes left.  Within seconds after the game tying goal, Tri-State came on the attack, and retrieved a lucky bounce along boards and passed it across the goal crease.  The opposing player kicked the puck along the goal line.

Swiss cheese Ronda swiped at the puck as it was tittering across the goal line in the air half-way into the net.  The other Ref Luigi's protege, immediately called it a goal, which gave the Tri-All stars a 4-3 lead with 1min 54 seconds left.

The goal deflated the Whalers whom just tied the game seconds earlier.  In the end the Whalers attacked the net with all their might, but wasn't enough as they lost their first game of the season 4-3.

After the game Management was asked why they pulled Montel,  then allowed him back on after the game was tied.  "We wanted more scoring to tie the game so we put JD on offense, to get us back into the game.  When we tied the game at 3-3 we felt Montel wouldn't be a liability on defense.  He also looked motivated after being bench.  So we rolled the dice, and it backfired."

Montel was asked about this situation "I didn't think it was a good move on their part.  They totally screwed up my rhythm on offense.  How do you expect your number 1 goal scorer to produce, if he is getting benched.  I didn't score 6 goals last season by accident."

The Whalers return to action next Sunday at 10pm against Razz Russ.  They will try to atone for this heartbreaking lost, and even their record at 1-1.

Go Whale Go