Dawgs Make it Four Straight With 7-2 Victory

There is a line in the timeless movie Slapshot, where goalie Denis Lemieux asks his general manager, "Who own da Chiefs?" Well, for at least one night, it was the Dawg Nation squad "dat own da Chiefs", as they rolled to a convincing 7-2 win. It was a small measure of revenge for the good guys, as they lost to that same Chiefs team a couple of months ago in the EAHL summer championship game in overtime.


"You go to da box...and feel shame."

Last Monday night against Beer Pressure, the Dawgs rode forward Jon Ripley's six goals to victory. This week, the scoring was very evenly distributed, with six different players lighting the lamp. The only player to get two was Canadian wetback Jon Jay, who put in his fifth and sixth of the winter season.

Other than Jay, young Loren Toth notched his second, and then Brad Stabio, Andre Janusz, Mark Kunugi, and the newest Dawg Nation member Mike Fox all opened their accounts with their first of the year.

Goalie Al Sterner improved his game from mediocre, all the way to ordinary this week, turning aside 25 of 27 Chief shots.


This wasn't one of them, but looks good

Stabio opened the scoring with a backhand that found its way through traffic and past Chiefs goalie Craig Gilcrease. And then a few minutes before the end of the first period, yet another Dawg Nation Canadian Janusz came into the Chiefs zone on a breakaway, skated all the way across the crease, and slid the puck past a sprawling Gilcrease to make it 2-0 at the break.

Jay got his first goal in the second period, converting a Ripley pass into an easy backdoor play. Longtime teammates, this is not the first time the two have combined on a backdoor play, if you know what I mean.


This may help if you don't know what I mean.

After the Chiefs banged in a rebound goal on a five on three power play, Kunugi answered right back to make it 4-1. He took a pass from Jay in front of the net, and found the five hole of Gilcrease to get the Dawgs lead back to three. Toth then made the margin four before the end of the period, when he came out of the corner by himself, and buried a high shot through a screen.

Jay made matters 6-1 early in the third, when he again broke in alone, and fired the puck through Gilcrease's pads. After another Chiefs rebound goal, Mike Fox closed the scoring, converting a terrific saucer pass from Jon Ripley, and easily depositing the puck into the open side of the net.

It was the first Dawg Nation goal for Fox, who just joined the team two weeks ago. He missed the first two games, because he was busy as a Root Sports as a producer for Colorado Rockies telecasts. "Producer" might be a little generous- he actually worked most of the season as Tom Helmer's fluffer.


Why do you think he's smiling?

Still tied for first place in EAHL standings, the Dawg Nation squad will try to stretch their streak to five tonight when they take on Blueline. Blueline, despite being 2-2, leads the league in fewest goals against with 10, so it should make for a very tight game.

In other Dawg Nation news:

Dawg Nation forward/defenseman Brad Stabio's new daughter Phoebe officially became daddy's girl this week, when she was fitted for a real stupid hat. Like father...like daughter.



Cute little bugger, though. So is Phoebe...

The responsibilities of new fatherhood overwhelmed Dawg Nation forward Matt McGarvey this week, and he reverted back to a different time in his life.


What a boner...

This week Dawg Nation captain Drew Johns fulfilled a lifelong dream, when he took a river raft trip, and reenacted every scene from the movie Deliverance. He especially enjoyed the scenes with the Hillbilly strangers.


"You got a pretty mouth, boy..."

Dawg Nation forward Jon Ripley was a little lax with his backchecking last Monday night, drawing the wrath of goalie Al Sterner.


"Cover the point, you lazy dick!"