Houston Hockey Series

                 Last Sunday was a horrible, God awful, day in the NFL. With San Francisco AND Baltimore losing in the worst way possible, I’m thanking my lucky stars that I could wash down the ghastly taste with two ice cold Houston Hockey Series games. Sunday started off with the Hitchhikers arming themselves against the Space City Invaders.

                Last week the Hitchhikers concocted a formula to a threatening offensive game plan. Now as they took to the ice, the crew from Sugar Land looked to place the pieces together for a very satisfying win against Space City. The first period was heavily one-sided in Sugar Land’s favor. Unfortunately, a couple pucks rang off the post, but never found their way past Steve Sellepack. Ryan Porter finally broke the silence and scored in the second period to give Space City the lead midway through the game. The Invaders kept the pressure on and soon saw the fruits of their labor as Ken Bollweg scored with six minutes remaining in the period. Ryan Porter was the star of the show in the third and scored twice, including one shorthanded goal, which cemented Space City’s victory. The win didn’t come easy, but a few late points halted the momentum enough for Space City to get the 4-0 win.

                The Crush and Express featured a defense battle that left both teams desperate for points. Willowbrook light up the score board early when Mike Edwards and Harvey Goldstein teamed up to penetrate the defense and give the Crush the lead. Sugar Land captain, Mike Cuomo, was quick to equalize the score when he caught the rebound from a wayward goalie pass to snatch the unassisted goal.

               Willowbrook fell into penalty trouble in the second period, but the Express could not capitalize on the multiple advantages that landed in their favor. Mike Edwards made another debut within two minutes of the third period when he scored an unassisted goal to give the Crush the 2-1 lead.  The Express got back on their feet and compiled a few offensive strikes, but none were successful. Mile Fletcher sealed the deal for a Willowbrook victory by scoring halfway through the final period. The second close game that Sunday resulted with the Crush over the Express by a score of 3 to 1.

Memorial City Mall was the destination to host the Sugarland Showdown. The Express’ lead scorer Ryan James wasted no time making his presence known and scored in the first three minutes of the period. Express Wing, John Phillips, complimented the goal with one of his own just twenty seconds later. The Hitchhikers were shook early in the game, but soon found their composure to score late in the first period by a Johnny Morse goal that brought the Hitchhikers only down by one score going into the second.

With the addition of an emerging offensive element to the Hitchhiker arsenal, Barry Price and gang looked to capture their first win of the season. Ryan James, Phillips, and Elizabeth Curry put an end to this plot by going on a three minute shooting spree that shifted the game to a 5-1 Express lead.  Gabe “The Legend” Presas ended the shoot out by tacking on another score for the Hitchhikers with four minutes remaining in the second period. Express Left Wing, Scott Burmann, sealed the period by scoring an unassisted goal off a Hitchhiker turnover.

The third period spelled more bad news for the Hitchhikers as Curry, Burmann, and James each scored a goal to put victory out of reach. Hitchhiker Ojinga Green assisted Johnny Morse to score the final goal of the game with mere seconds remaining. The Express roll with a 9 – 3 win over their cross-town rivals. It’s full steam ahead for the Express as they prepare to play the league leading Wild on Sunday January 22^nd. As for the Hitchhikers, they encounter yet another difficult team in the Space Invaders the same day. If one would look at the game analysis, one would find that the Hitchhikers have a lot to work with. If Sugarland eliminates the quick goals in succession, then the Express only score four or five goals during the entire regulation making it a completely different game. The Hitchhikers are showing signs of improvement and success is on the horizon.

The Beaumont Roughnecks traveled to the far corners of the Houston Metropolitan Area to face the Space Invaders on their home turf in Space City. The Space City Ice Station was frigid with excitement as these two teams fought for supremacy. The Roughnecks needed to win to catch up with Space City in the current league standings. On the other hand, Space City is the only team behind the Wild and their first place position. Winning would shrink the gap between themselves and the undefeated Willowbrook Wild. On a side note; there’s one thing we can take away from this week of football. You heard me correct; football. The New York Giants’ season is one of the best stories in football. After having to defeat the Dallas Cowboys to sneak their way into the playoffs, they had to face the Atlanta Falcons of whom they slaughtered by a score of 24-2. After two great wins over two great teams the Giants faced the national favorites; the Green Bay Packers. The Packers went 15-1 throughout the regular season and was the clear favorite going into Sunday. To everyone’s surprise New York went into Lambeau Field and pulled off the upset. The lesson of the story is that once you’re on fire it takes a lot to put you out. To transition the NFL to HHS; the Beaumont Roughnecks are piping hot off of two victories against their last two opponents. In their last two games they have outscored their opposition thirteen goals to four.
The puck dropped as the clock stroke 10 p.m. and Beaumont came out the gate swinging for the fences. The Invaders spent most of the period trying to keep the puck out of their side of the ice, but to no avail. Kenny Stainton helped Petr Jilek score his first goal of the season with five minutes left in the first period.
Space City never managed to rebound in the second period despite the Roughnecks falling into penalty trouble. Rob Torres and Jilek kept their foot on the gas and cruised through the game scoring an additional three goals for the Roughnecks. With this success, Beaumont has proved it’s very dangerous now that we are entering the second half of the season. This is the time you as a team want to catch fire. It has yet to be determined whether someone holds that extinguisher; perhaps it will be Space City. The Invaders will be looking for vengeance when the Roughnecks play them at the same time and same place on February 11th.

It was a classic rematch for the storied Roughnecks and Crush rivalry.

Their first match kicked off the season and resulted with the Roughnecks catching fire early to retrieve a 6-1 victory. Not much has changed since October 9^th.

The first period started off very much like the first game and the Crush jumped out ahead halfway through the first period from an unassisted goal by Terry Johnson.

Again, much like the first game the Crush came back firing late in the second period and pierced the Beaumont armor to tie the score. Willowbrook’s Tim Glowa and Dan Peed collaborated to score with a 1:38 seconds remaining.

Unfortunately for Willowbrook, the Roughnecks also had devised a strategy that proved useful late in the game. Tom Easley led the charge and scored before time depleted in the second period. It was anyone’s game with fifteen minutes of playing left and a close 2-1 led by the ‘necks.

Tom Easley and gang kept their foot on the gas and with a strong defense and quick counter offense the ‘necks managed to rack up four goals in the third. Gordon Campbell-Gilles opened the gate to a Roughneck assault that changed the complection of game when he scored from his comfortable space on the bench. Jim Smalley, Tom Easley, and Rob Torres each scored late in the game. Petr Jilek and Gordo led for assists with two each. Willowbrook couldn’t find a way to keep the dam from collapsing and fell to Beaumont with the familiar score of 6-1.

Due to a recent schedule change on the website we ask all athletes check thier packages to verify they have tickets for the correct date.

On January 16th the Express will play the Hitchhikers at 7:15 at Memorial City

On January 22nd the Crush will play the Express after the Aeros game.

On February 2nd the Space Invaders will play the Wild after the Aeros game.

If by chance your packages don’t align with this schedule. Please contact Josh Young at 713-361-7937.