Archers Earn Shutout to Open Season

Thursday, September 13, 2018

After losing in the semifinals in Summer 2018, the Archers were looking to make it two championships in three seasons, to go with their Spring 2018 title. The Vudoo were on the hunt for their first PTAHL trophy, and were confident they could do that with many of their regulars emboldening this veteran squad.

It was the Archers who would strike first, with Michael "The Dachshund" Malarowski netting after he gathered the puck on a Vudoo turnover. Filling in at goalie for the Archers was Eric Brozek, who performed great in the first period, stoning Mark Schwanda from the slot, then paddling away the rebound on Gary Len's wrister. A late first period opportunity came for the Archers, but Pete Peterson kicked Jason Fischbach's slap shot into the corner to finish off the first 15 minutes.

The play was even until Gary Len slashed Ben "The Ghost" Ghiano, who passed to Val Fuchs before Peterson prevented him from doubling the Archers' lead during the delayed penalty. Len would sit for two minutes, but a great kill where the Archers got no shots on Peterson saw his team take the momentum, in a second period which was in its latter stages. Looking to finally beat Brozek, Fred Hoth hit Antonio Figueroa, who was set up in the corner of the offensive zone. Figueroa one touch passed to Tom Godon, who one timed, but Brozek gloved his slap shot to keep the Archers in front to go into the third period.

At 1-0, it could go either way, but the Vudoo would fall behind by two when John Murphy slalomed through the Vudoo defense to tuck one under the crossbar. With 10:00 minutes to go, the Vudoo had to open things up a bit and be more attack minded, although they didn't have to go reckless yet. But when they got too aggressive, Murphy scored a backbreaking goal after he snuck into the passing lane when the Vudoo tried to breakout through the middle of their defensive zone. Now down 3-0, the Vudoo couldn't recover, ultimately surrendering Murphy's third goal for a natural hat trick, then Josh Sumoski's first goal since he was cleared to play after being sidelined since the Spring. This 5-0 win was an emphatic one for the Archers, who saw John Murphy and Eric Brozek wins the Buffalo Wild Wings Man of the Match Award, with a natural hat trick and shutout, respectively.

Click header to sort. Ledgend: GP: Games Played; G: Goals; A: Assists; PTS: Points; PIM: Penalties in Minutes; GWG: Game Winning Goals; GTG: Game Tying Goals; PPG: Power Play Goals; SHG: Short Handed Goals; SOA: Shoot Out Attempts; SOG: Shoot Out Goals; MIN: Minutes Played; GA: Goals Against; AVG: Goals Against Average; W: Wins; L: Losses; SOW: Shoot Out Wins; SOL: Shoot Out Losses; SO: Shut Outs; Saves: Saves; %: Save Percentage.