Posted 3/15/10 (Mon)
The Hornets had a rocky start to their tourney. Sub Tyson Hodge injured himself and had to pull out on Friday. Saturday morning Jeff Brown woke up feeling ill so for a while the Hornets were down to eight players. We managed to get Mike Johnson of the Chiefs,( who wasn't playing because of work on Saturday) to take Tysons' place for our second and third games. Then we added Shawn Souther for Brown. Jeff showed up however, willing to at least play game one so Souther took Tysons spot for the first game and we were finally ready to rumble. Brandon Zent was in for Travis and Tim Zander took Dick Steffecks spot at left wing.
Game 1 was against the Mudcats. The Hornets started out well getting some cosistent pressure but were unable to beat Jim Becker. Levi was also strong in the net and the first period ended with no score. Brandon Leingang scored on a breakaway to give the Mudcats the lead midway through the second period. Tim Polzin evened it up a few minutes later. The score would remain tied until five or six minutes were left in the game when Jared Frank scored to give the Hornets the lead. Despite having a man advantage the Hornets gave up a breakaway to Justin Roness with under a minute left to play. Fortunately, Levi made a huge save and Jon Lacher scored an empty net goal a few seconds later and the Hornets won by a 3-1 margin. It marked the first time the Hornets had advanced into the winners bracket.
Game two was against Longhorn. Mike Johnson was now suited up and Jeff Brown was feeling better and ready to play again. The Hornets came out on fire in this one, Jared Frank scored two first period goals and Longhorn was unable to get one by Levi. Jared completed his hat trick in the second period, and Curt Berreth scored on the power play for Longhorn, making it a 3-1 lead going into the third. The teams traded goals midway through the third and with a 4-2 lead wi th three minutes to play it looked like the Hornets would cruise to the finals. Longhorn had other plans. They took a timeout with 2:47 to play and powered up a line. One minute and 23 seconds later it was 4-4. (Hornet management gave serious consideration to scrapping their no-powering up philosophy in the aftermath of this game) The last minute was all Longhorn and the Hornets scrambled and dove and hacked and managed to hang on until the buzzer. Overtime was only three minutes long and Longhorn seemed to have the puck most of that time as well but the three minutes elapsed with nothing settled and we moved to a shootout. Steve Martian started it with a goal. Levi stopped Cody Stern. Jareds attempt was saved by Mark Gray. Curt Berreth then tied the score. Tim Polzin and TJ Olsen were both stymied and we went to sudden death. Steve's second attempt was stopped by Gray, but Levi held serve against Cody Stern. Jared then scored through Marks five hole. Levi then made the game winning save vs. TJ and the Hornets advanced to the title game. Afterwards, we got to meet Mike Johnsons newborn son who was at the game. So deep in the subconcious of his tiny developing brain he will always remember his dad in blue and gold..........with just a touch of parakeet green.
In the title game, the Hornets faced the Wildcats, who have become fixtures in the Berreth title game. A large crowd was on hand making the Hornets a little nervous, our crowd usually consists of Dylan and Ethan Brown, who are usually off shooting pucks somewhere. There were at least a few of them rooting for us. Ex-goalie Michele Forest was in the crowd as was Dick Steffeck, who we can assume heard of our appearance in the finals and caught the next plane back to Bismarck. But despite the crowd the Hornets jumped out early and took a 2-0 lead after one period. Jared and Steve did the honors and Levi was solid, if not spectacular. The second period was a high scoring one. Each team scored three goals and the Hornets went to the locker room with a 5-3 lead, but there was a dark cloud over the locker room. Jared Frank had crashed hard into the boards in the final minute and broken a rib (or ribs) He said he would go out for the third but he was obviously in a lot of pain. He started the third but came off quickly, done for the day. Now the Hornets rely on Jared for a lot of things. Besides scoring goals, he covers a lot of our mistakes with his blazing speed so losing him was a huge loss. The Hornets responded magnificently though. The defensemen skated hard and aggressively and turned away the Wildcats time after time. The Hornets added three goals. Steve had two and Derek had the third......touching off a wild celebrations throughout Asia and Polynesia among his cult following of Asian chicks. The Hornets got great efforts from everyone, with assists going to Johnson Trottier, Brownie, Zent and Zander. Steve picked a great day to notch his first hattie of the year. The Wildcats added one more on a nice backhand roof by Rob Bethke but the Hornets went on to claim the Dale Berreth Cup by an 8-4 margin.
The Berreth tournament marked the end of Jon Lacher's MRAHL career as he is following his job to Fargo. Jon ended his Hornet career in fine fashion, having an excellent tournament. Whoever we get to replace him, we will undoubtedly miss the speed and hard nosed play he brought every week.
Thanks to Brandon, Tim and Mike for helping us out. A quick look at the cup indicates that everyone except Jeff Brown and Tim Zander will get their names engraved on it for the first time. For Jeff and Tim it will be twice each. Derek and Dick will become the second father-son combo. The Hoffers are the only other. Also thanks to the refs and to Peder for organizing the event. Special thanks to the rink rats who ran the music and public address. (even though some names may have been slightly butchered) Levi Binderson?!?! Todd Flickle?
I should also mention Pendergasts' new helmet. From a distance it had a Hannibal Lecter look to it and he was frightening the women and children.