Blow-out and closely-fought match hi-lite week 7 of SHL action

Repeating the pattern established the previous week; the first game of week seven in the SHL proved to be a blow-out with Sport Corner-Titanium defeating the Sukhumvit Spitfires 7-1 while the second game saw an exciting 3-2 victory for Hooters Nana over AWARE. The games were a rematch of game six contests, with Sport Corner-Titanium sweeping their two-game home & away series while AWARE & Hooters Nana split their series.    

Sport Corner-Titanium goalie Gabor Toth again pulled double duty on the night winning the first game of the evening for his team and then leading Hooters Nana to victory in the second match as he replaced their regular goalie Pattarapol “Dream” Ungkulpattanasuk. Gabor made 14 saves for Sport Corner-Titanium in the first game, and 23 saves for Hooters in the second match. It is a rare feat indeed for a goaltender to earn two victories in one night. James Cox made 19 saves on the 25 shots fired his way in his SHL debut for Sukhumvit in game one, while Yves Gaboriault stopped 21 of the 24 pucks he faced for AWARE in game two.

Game one could have called this the “Schachnovsky-Garofolo show” as both finished with four points on the night. John has a hat-trick and an assist and Zak, SC’s Titanium captain, had a goal and three assists. SC-Titanium came out flying, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before Sukhumvit finally got on the board. The Spitfires one bright spot on the night was that goal as an amazing dangle by Donny Kerfoot had the entire SC-Titanium team chasing him behind the net before he slid the puck to Adrian Meyers for Sukhumvit’s lone marker. Converted defenseman Mike Wilson proved to be a force playing forward contributing a goal and assist for SC-Titanium on the night and Remo Nyffenegger and Jari Eerikainen each contributed two assists as well. DJ Sherman was the Rolling Stone Pizza player-of-game scoring a goal and playing a great game on defense. Key points of note: the Spitfires were missing some top players on the night and Gabor was strong in the net. A visiting hockey scout remarked, “He seems to play much better with a lead to protect.”

In game two, it looked like AWARE was going to romp to victory, owning the first period and scoring two quick power-play goals to take an early 2-0 lead.

The start of another blow-out? Not so fast.

Hooters Nana found their legs in the second stanza and tied the game at two goals apiece with smart plays in the offensive zone, overpowering the Aware defense. In the third period, Hooters took over and Aware goalie Yves Gaboriaulut made several good saves to keep the game tied. Gabor was equally good and this game seemed destined for 3-on-3 OT.  But with five minutes left Hooters fired a harmless shot from the boards that found its way into the back of the net. AWARE pulled their goalie and despite a strong push could not tie it as Hooters rallied defensively around Gabor Toth to fend off AWARE’s last-minute attacks. Paul Stoddart continued with his solid season netting a goal and an assist for Hooters, while Sebastien Ranger and Michael White (the Rolling Stone player of the game) tallied singles and Andy Brine chipped in with two assists. Corry Day had a goal and an assist and captain Patrik Lundback had two assists leading AWARE’s scoring on the night. Tan Limpinphet also scored for AWARE continuing his impressive season.   

John Schachnovsky’s torrid scoring streak (eleven goals and seven assists in seven games) keeps him atop the SHL scoring table. He is followed by AWARE’s Patrik Lundback with 3 goals and 7 assists. In third, sits SC-Titanium’s Garofolo with four goals and five assists on the season. AWARE’s Tan Limpinphet (4 goals and 4 assists) and Hooters’ Paul Stoddart (6 goals and two assists) round out the top five scorers.

SC-Titanium sits atop the league standings with ten points and a 5-2 record. Hooters Nana is in second spot with a 4-2-1 record and nine points; AWARE is third a 3-4-2 record and 8 points, with Sukhumvit sitting in last place with a 2-5-1 record for five points (the third number in the list stands for overtime losses, where a point is gained by the losing team).  

There’s rare Thursday action in the SHL this week as play continues at “the Rink”, Central Grand Rama 9, on January 26th with SC-Titanium taking on Hooters at 8:30 and AWARE battling Sukhumvit at 9:30pm. Come check out the action.

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter and on Instagram

For more information on the SHL check out Dom Dumais great podcasts and interviews with SHL players.