AWARE takes close game from SC Titanium; Kerfoot leads Sukhumvit to sixth straight win

Week 13 SHL action saw two close games as AWARE defeated SC-Titanium 4-3 in game one, while the Sukhumvit Spitfires extended their winning streak to six matches by beating Hooters Nana 5-4 in the evening’s second match.

AWARE jumped into an early 1-0 lead in game one on a goal by Devin Michael, then SC-Titanium stormed back on two goals by captain Mike Wilson (Mike took over captaincy of the club in week 12). Ryan Haynes tied it up for AWARE midway through the second period, but Wilson’s third goal of the night put SC-Titanium up in front again. Late in the period, Bill Bredesen score for AWARE to tie it and in the final stanza Brandon Vick scored for AWARE sealing the victory.

The MSG line was back for SC-Titanium; well, sort of, John Schachnovsky, Mike Wilson and Zak Garofolo all played, but player illness and substitution saw Wilson spend some time on the blue-line.         

SC Titanium’s Gabor Toth stopped 27 shots of the 31 pucks he faced while AWARE’s Yves Gaboriault/Lane Parker stopped 26 of the 29 shots fired their way. Yves suffered a lower-body injury early in the game, but hung in there until the second intermission when Lance Parker could get dressed and come in and relieve him.    

In the second game Hooters Nana’s captain Justin St Denis scored early staking his team to a 1-0 lead, then Vanchalerm “Top” Rutthapong scored to make it 2-0 for Hooters before Harrison Oztemel (his sixth) scored to bring the Spitfires within one as the first period ended.

In the second period, the Spitfires’s Arnupap “Ob” Charoenrak lit the lamp to tie it up. Then Donny Kerfoot flipped a switch and scored a beautiful goal putting Sukhumvit ahead before substitute Ichiro Hara tied it for Hooters late in the second stanza.

In the third period, Donny continued his stickhandling wizardry scoring an insurance goal on a shorthanded effort to put the Spitfires ahead and then Garrett Howden scored an insurance marker. Garrett Howden scores an insurance goal for Sukhumvit, but then Michael White of Hooters Nana scored with time running out to keep Hooters close and they pulled their goalie storming the Spitfires’ net. Pirapong “Juiz” Lertitsiri played well in the Hooters net, stopping 20 of the 25 shots fired his way.

Lance Parker held tough winning his sixth straight for Sukhumvit stopping 16 of the 20 shots Hooters fired at him, while Donny Kerfoot, with his spectacular two-goal performance, was the Rolling Stone Pizza player-of-the-game for Sukhumvit for the third time this season.  Both Mike Wilson and Donny Kerfoot have been players of the game three times each—quite an accomplishment.  

Before the game, AWARE captain Patrick Lundback was honoured for his incredible role in leading the Thai national game to the gold medal at the recent Asian Winter Games held in Sapporo.

Although John Schachnovsky was held off the scoresheet for the first time this season, his 26 points (15 goals and 11 assists) still leads the SHL; Brandon Vick (12 goals and 8 assists) and Mike Wilson (10 goals & 10 assists) sit tied in second spot with 20 points each; while Sukhumvit’s Kerfoot is in third spot (13 goals and 5 assists) and Hooters Nana’s Andy Brine rounds out the top five scorers with 4 goals and 13 assists.

SC-Titanium still sits atop the SHL standings with sixteen points and an 9-4 record and 18 points. But they only lead the Sukhumvit Spitfiies, riding their six-game win streak, by one point as Sukhumvit sits in second with an 8-5-1 record and 17 points. AWARE has fourteen points and sits in third place with a 5-8-4 record and Hooters Nana sits in last place with nine points and a 4-9-1 record (the third number in sequence stands for overtime losses, where a point is gained by the losing team).  

Week fourteen SHL action continues on Sunday March 5th at “the Rink”, Central Grand Rama 9, with the two top teams Sukhumvit Spitfires and SC-Titanium facing off at 8:30 and AWARE taking on Hooters Nana at 9:30pm. Teams will have their Thai national players back in their line-ups, so the action should be intense.     

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