Game 4

If you just look at the score of tonight's game, you would think that the Riverview Ice Sharks team played horribly and got trounced on the ice. The truth is that the team played some damn good hockey tonight, but were severely outmanned. They were forced to ice a goaltender that had played a game immediately before this one. They were forced to play with only three regular defensemen, and to put a forward on defense just to to have two lines to put on the ice. They were forced to play with only six forwards, give them only two lines on that end of the ice as well. In an ideal lineup, you would have 12 forwards, or four lines, and 6 defensemen for three lines. This was certainly not ideal...

With all of that being said, the team did a good job early in keeping things even. An early Riverview hooking penalty led to the first Jesuit goal, as the puck dribbled in behind the goalie as he was sliding through the crease in an attempt to recover from the cross-ice pass. It was the type of fluky goal that you hate to see. Just over three minutes later a Tigers breakaway led to another prime scoring opportunity, and they were able to convert this time as well, grabbing a 2-0 lead. Despite the score, the two teams were actually pretty even in scoring opportunities, with Jesuit outshooting Riverview 8-6, despite getting the first five shots on goal to open the period. The Ice Sharks would keep the Tigers off the board for the final 6+ minutes of action, and they would head to the first intermission down 2-0.

The second period was nowhere near as even as the first, despite the closer score during the middle twelve minutes of game time. Jesuit got the first 10 shots of the period before Riverview was finally able to answer with one of their own. Unfortunately, with just over five minutes remaining in the period the eighth of those shots found the back of the net, after just barely making it through five-hole and trickling across the goal line. Despite being outshot 13-2 during the period, that was the lone goal scored, and would leave Riverview down 3-0 when it ended.

After nearly 30 minutes of game time, it was obvious that the Ice Sharks skaters were getting extremely tired. Nine straight shots came off of the Tigers sticks to open the period. Shot number eight made it past the Riverview goalie, and that was the one that opened the floodgates. They would go on to score five times on seven shots to end the game, blowing it wide open and making the final score the blowout that it seemed to be. Frankly, despite that score, this was one of the better games that they played so far this spring. Go Ice Sharks!

Riverview Ice Sharks Blue Game #4 - vs. Jesuit Tigers White
	Drew racing down the ice...
	...and passing across to a teammate.
	Drew racing a Jesuit skater to the puck.
	Drew setting a screen in front of the net...
	...and trying to redirect a shot that came his way...
	...before turning and trying to knock in the rebound.
	Drew fighting for position in front of the net.
	Drew just missed this pass that went through the crease.
	Drew getting his stick on the puck...
	...and knocking it away from the Jesuit player.
	Drew getting his stick into the shooting lane.
	Drew firing the puck on net from along the boards.
	Drew working hard to get down the ice despite being so tired.
	Drew jumping into the play after a faceoff.
	Drew coming out to try to knock the puck over the blue line and out of the zone.
	Drew looking back during a break in the action.
	Drew trying to clear the puck out of the zone.

Riverview Ice Sharks Blue Game #4 - vs. Jesuit Tigers White

Drew racing down the ice...

...and passing across to a teammate.

Drew racing a Jesuit skater to the puck.

Drew setting a screen in front of the net...

...and trying to redirect a shot that came his way...

...before turning and trying to knock in the rebound.

Drew fighting for position in front of the net.

Drew just missed this pass that went through the crease.

Drew getting his stick on the puck...

...and knocking it away from the Jesuit player.

Drew getting his stick into the shooting lane.

Drew firing the puck on net from along the boards.

Drew working hard to get down the ice despite being so tired.

Drew jumping into the play after a faceoff.

Drew coming out to try to knock the puck over the blue line and out of the zone.

Drew looking back during a break in the action.

Drew trying to clear the puck out of the zone.