SportsAnnouncing
04-05-2004, 01:26 AM
Broomall, Pa--When the teams met at the end of the 2002-03 season in Williamsburg, Va., they probably had no idea that a decision on a warm, sunny afternoon would turn out such an exciting conclusion on a cold evening in Pennsylvania one year later as the Marple Gladiators won the mini-game over the Hartford Thunder to take home their second consecutive Sheeba Cup. The Gladiators became the first team in league history to win back-to-back championships and repeat as league champions.
Hartford forced the mini-game with a 6-5 victory in a four-quarter game to start the evening in a game that almost ended in controversy.
Leading 6-4, Hartford was called for an apparent icing much to the dismay of the Thunder as a Gladiator shot deflected off a Thunder player's skate. This set-up a golden opportunity for the Gladiators with 19.9 seconds remaining. C. J. Yoder (two goals, assist) scored with 17.7 showing, however the clock had failed to start during a play that took longer than 2.2 seconds. After the officials held a conference, the clock was reset to 12.0 but the Gladiators were unable to muster a shot.
Jason Salvato scored three times in the Game Two win for Hartford. The Thunder pretty much controlled the game right from the beginning, forcing Gladiator powerhouse C. J. Yoder into the box for three minutes early in the first.
With Yoder in the box, Salvato scored to give the Thunder their first lead of the series. Steve Yingling (goal, assist) tied it by batting the puck out of the air following a shot by brother Brian Yingling. Eric Weischelbaumer (two goals, assist) scored both of his goals 40 seconds apart near the end of the first quarter to put the Thunder up 3-1.
The teams traded goals in the second quarter while the Gladiators cut the lead to one, trailing 5-4 after three quarters. Salvato scored early in the fourth to give the Thunder a two-goal lead setting the stage for the late-game thrills.
The mini-game followed a 15-minute intermission that gave the teams time to re-energize. The mini-game, a result of the owner's meetings in Williamsburg, was a 12-minute period in which the team leading at the final horn, would be declared the winner.
Marple came out strong after a flat four-quarters and it showed as C. J. Yoder fired a pass from Brian Yingling past Joe Bonvie to give the Gladiators a 1-0 lead. Yingling then benefitted from a Yoder pass 2:07 later and forced the Thunder to call a time out. Yoder's second goal of the mini-game and playoff-leading 15th of the post season came with 6:35 left in the mini-game to cap the scoring.
Penalties were aplenty as both teams came out swinging, literally. Yoder took a double-minor roughing penalty with Harford's Anthony Giusto 1:31 into the game. Sean Connelly then mixed it up with Marple's Ed Smith later in the first as things calmed a little until the midway point of the fourth quarter as Giusto and Smith scuffled for roughing minors.
Giusto was the thorn in Yoder's side, consistently annoying Yoder during play and after whistles, forcing the star off his game.
In the mini-game, a fight broke out finish the day. Connelly was called for roughing with 7:34 on the clock followed by another roughing minor to Giusto with 4:07 left. Giusto then stood on the penalty box bench and got into a verbal fight with Marple coach Jamie DiDominico and pretty much the rest of the Gladiator bench. As a result of this, dressed-scratch J. J. Deviney was asked to leave the Marple bench and Hartford's Weischelbaumer was given a gross misconduct and sent to the showers. Instead, Weischelbaumer hung out near the exit gate for the remainder of the game.
Finally, the boiling point struck with 46.3 seconds remaining when Hartford's Elijah Riendeau and Marple's Ed Smith dropped the gloves for the first fighting major of the series. It was also the only fight a Gladiator had gotten into in a finals game dating back to last year's game.
The playoff secondary awards were handed out after the game as Mike Viscuse earned Most Valuable Goalie with 79 saves in three games and Brian Yingling (four goals, six assists) was named the tournament's Most Valueable Player. Last year's playoff MVP, Ron Tracy was on the rink for the presentation. Tracy missed most of the second half of the regular season and all of the post season with a broken leg suffered in a freak accident in Boston.
Joe Bonvie (57 saves) was the number three star of the first game, Brian Yingling earned number two star and Salvato was named number one star.
Mike Roman (assist) was named the mini-game's number three star, Yingling (goal, two assists) took home his third straight number two star and C. J. Yoder (two goals, assist) was the number one star.
Notes: Anthony Giusto entered the game with 16 1/2 minutes in penalties and amassed a total of 7 1/2 more for a total of 24 penalties in minutes in the three-game series...The first power-play goal of the finals was recorded by Elijah Riendeau on a second-quarter man advantage. Yingling responded with the Gladiators only power-play tally in the third...Yoder (15 goals, 11 assists) and Yingling (11 goals, 15 assists) finished with 26 points in the playoffs to lead all scorers...Hartford's Bonvie registered 62 saves over the five periods of play on Sunday...The Gladiators missed becoming the first team in MLRH history to go undefeated, they finished at 20-1 overall, 6-1 in the playoffs while the Thunder finished 15-7 overall, 5-3 in the playoffs. The Thunder are 1-1 in mini-games having defeated Boston to advance to the finals.
Game Two
Scoring
QTR 1 2 3 4 TOT
HAR 3 1 1 1 6
MAR 1 1 2 1 5
Hartford
1st Salvato-6th (Connelly) 2:21
1st Weischelbaumer-10th (Riendeau) 9:22
1st Weischelbaumer-11th (Stearns) 10:02
2nd Riendeau-3rd (Weischelbaumer, Stearns) 11:41
3rd Salvato-7th (unassisted) 4:56
4th Salvato-8th (Pinheiro) 2:24
Marple
1st S.Yingling-5th (B.Yingling) 6:57
2nd Yoder-12th (S.Yingling, B.Yingling) 8:40
3rd B.Yingling-10th (Yoder, Denton) 4:23
3rd O'Connell-2nd (B.Yingling) 8:50
4th Yoder-13th (Denton) 11:48
Shots
QTR 1 2 3 4 TOT
HAR 8 7 10 5 30
MAR 20 14 15 13 62
Game Three
Scoring
QTR 1
HAR 0
MAR 3
Hartford
None
Marple
1st Yoder-14th (B.Yingling) 1:04
1st B.Yingling-11th (Yoder, Roman) 3:11
1st Yoder-15th (B.Yingling) 5:25
Shots
QTR 1
HAR 3
MAR 8
Officials-Pat Weissinger (R), Jimmy McDonald (R), Brian Falker (L)
Visit SportsAnnouncing.com for info on Game Production, announcing and more
Hartford forced the mini-game with a 6-5 victory in a four-quarter game to start the evening in a game that almost ended in controversy.
Leading 6-4, Hartford was called for an apparent icing much to the dismay of the Thunder as a Gladiator shot deflected off a Thunder player's skate. This set-up a golden opportunity for the Gladiators with 19.9 seconds remaining. C. J. Yoder (two goals, assist) scored with 17.7 showing, however the clock had failed to start during a play that took longer than 2.2 seconds. After the officials held a conference, the clock was reset to 12.0 but the Gladiators were unable to muster a shot.
Jason Salvato scored three times in the Game Two win for Hartford. The Thunder pretty much controlled the game right from the beginning, forcing Gladiator powerhouse C. J. Yoder into the box for three minutes early in the first.
With Yoder in the box, Salvato scored to give the Thunder their first lead of the series. Steve Yingling (goal, assist) tied it by batting the puck out of the air following a shot by brother Brian Yingling. Eric Weischelbaumer (two goals, assist) scored both of his goals 40 seconds apart near the end of the first quarter to put the Thunder up 3-1.
The teams traded goals in the second quarter while the Gladiators cut the lead to one, trailing 5-4 after three quarters. Salvato scored early in the fourth to give the Thunder a two-goal lead setting the stage for the late-game thrills.
The mini-game followed a 15-minute intermission that gave the teams time to re-energize. The mini-game, a result of the owner's meetings in Williamsburg, was a 12-minute period in which the team leading at the final horn, would be declared the winner.
Marple came out strong after a flat four-quarters and it showed as C. J. Yoder fired a pass from Brian Yingling past Joe Bonvie to give the Gladiators a 1-0 lead. Yingling then benefitted from a Yoder pass 2:07 later and forced the Thunder to call a time out. Yoder's second goal of the mini-game and playoff-leading 15th of the post season came with 6:35 left in the mini-game to cap the scoring.
Penalties were aplenty as both teams came out swinging, literally. Yoder took a double-minor roughing penalty with Harford's Anthony Giusto 1:31 into the game. Sean Connelly then mixed it up with Marple's Ed Smith later in the first as things calmed a little until the midway point of the fourth quarter as Giusto and Smith scuffled for roughing minors.
Giusto was the thorn in Yoder's side, consistently annoying Yoder during play and after whistles, forcing the star off his game.
In the mini-game, a fight broke out finish the day. Connelly was called for roughing with 7:34 on the clock followed by another roughing minor to Giusto with 4:07 left. Giusto then stood on the penalty box bench and got into a verbal fight with Marple coach Jamie DiDominico and pretty much the rest of the Gladiator bench. As a result of this, dressed-scratch J. J. Deviney was asked to leave the Marple bench and Hartford's Weischelbaumer was given a gross misconduct and sent to the showers. Instead, Weischelbaumer hung out near the exit gate for the remainder of the game.
Finally, the boiling point struck with 46.3 seconds remaining when Hartford's Elijah Riendeau and Marple's Ed Smith dropped the gloves for the first fighting major of the series. It was also the only fight a Gladiator had gotten into in a finals game dating back to last year's game.
The playoff secondary awards were handed out after the game as Mike Viscuse earned Most Valuable Goalie with 79 saves in three games and Brian Yingling (four goals, six assists) was named the tournament's Most Valueable Player. Last year's playoff MVP, Ron Tracy was on the rink for the presentation. Tracy missed most of the second half of the regular season and all of the post season with a broken leg suffered in a freak accident in Boston.
Joe Bonvie (57 saves) was the number three star of the first game, Brian Yingling earned number two star and Salvato was named number one star.
Mike Roman (assist) was named the mini-game's number three star, Yingling (goal, two assists) took home his third straight number two star and C. J. Yoder (two goals, assist) was the number one star.
Notes: Anthony Giusto entered the game with 16 1/2 minutes in penalties and amassed a total of 7 1/2 more for a total of 24 penalties in minutes in the three-game series...The first power-play goal of the finals was recorded by Elijah Riendeau on a second-quarter man advantage. Yingling responded with the Gladiators only power-play tally in the third...Yoder (15 goals, 11 assists) and Yingling (11 goals, 15 assists) finished with 26 points in the playoffs to lead all scorers...Hartford's Bonvie registered 62 saves over the five periods of play on Sunday...The Gladiators missed becoming the first team in MLRH history to go undefeated, they finished at 20-1 overall, 6-1 in the playoffs while the Thunder finished 15-7 overall, 5-3 in the playoffs. The Thunder are 1-1 in mini-games having defeated Boston to advance to the finals.
Game Two
Scoring
QTR 1 2 3 4 TOT
HAR 3 1 1 1 6
MAR 1 1 2 1 5
Hartford
1st Salvato-6th (Connelly) 2:21
1st Weischelbaumer-10th (Riendeau) 9:22
1st Weischelbaumer-11th (Stearns) 10:02
2nd Riendeau-3rd (Weischelbaumer, Stearns) 11:41
3rd Salvato-7th (unassisted) 4:56
4th Salvato-8th (Pinheiro) 2:24
Marple
1st S.Yingling-5th (B.Yingling) 6:57
2nd Yoder-12th (S.Yingling, B.Yingling) 8:40
3rd B.Yingling-10th (Yoder, Denton) 4:23
3rd O'Connell-2nd (B.Yingling) 8:50
4th Yoder-13th (Denton) 11:48
Shots
QTR 1 2 3 4 TOT
HAR 8 7 10 5 30
MAR 20 14 15 13 62
Game Three
Scoring
QTR 1
HAR 0
MAR 3
Hartford
None
Marple
1st Yoder-14th (B.Yingling) 1:04
1st B.Yingling-11th (Yoder, Roman) 3:11
1st Yoder-15th (B.Yingling) 5:25
Shots
QTR 1
HAR 3
MAR 8
Officials-Pat Weissinger (R), Jimmy McDonald (R), Brian Falker (L)
Visit SportsAnnouncing.com for info on Game Production, announcing and more