In the first game of week ten action, Peak and Aware battled in one of the more exciting games of the SHL season. SHL leading scorer Corry Day continued his torrid pace early in the first period when he took a pass from Brandon Vick, split the Peak defense, and slid the puck past Gabor goalie Gabor Toth. The stars of the SHL shone bright this game, as Harrison Oztemel tried the score at 1 late in the first period. Jesse Starosta continued to rack up the points and kept his league-leading points battle with Day alive by getting the assist on the Oztemel goal.

The second period started 1-1, and it stayed that way late into the frame, until Ken Kindborn, took the puck in the Peak end and worked his way through the Aware squad, and scored on his national team teammate, Dream. A few minutes later, Corry Day continued to show why he is the leader of Aware, as he tried to put the Aware squad on his back and drag them back into the game. Adrian Myers fed the puck to Day, and Day was able to snipe the puck past Toth.

The third period began the same way the second started, tied. The game went late into the third, and with approximately five minutes to play, Myers, who had been buzzing the net all night, finally was rewarded for all of his effort with a goal, assisted by Sen Verdy, that gave Aware the late lead.

Peak was not going to go away, and only a minute after Aware’s goal, a defensive miscue allowed a Ryan Yaden clearing attempt to turn into a breakaway from Ed McConnell. McConnell took the puck from the red line and made no mistake with a great dangle and backhand over Dream.

With the score tied and only two and a half minutes to play, Aware took an unfortunate delay of game penalty. It didn’t take long for Peak to capitalize. Aware tried to clear the puck the length of the rink, only for Kindborn to stop it at the red line. Kindborn gave the puck to Oztemell on the left wing. Everyone in the rink was looking for last year’s goal-scoring champion to fire the puck on net, but Oztemel saw a streaking John Schachnovsky speeding down the right side, he made a great tape to tape pass and Schachnovsky made no mistake tucking the puck past Dream for the game-winning power-play goal.

Oztemel was awarded the Rolling Stone Pizza Player of the Game for his play. Toth made 27 saves for the victory and Dram had 28 saves in the losing effort.

The second game of the night saw the league-leader Novotel Spitfires fall to Hertz, 6-4, after holding a four-goal lead through almost two periods.

Novotel gave Hertz’s goalie Lance Parker all he could handle in the first two periods, on a barrage of goals by Marcel Bouwens, Winnie Luckanatinakorn, Mike Freeson, and substitute Title Prachayanant.

The game looked as though it was headed toward a blowout, and Novotel’s substitute goaltender Greg Beatty—off a decade’s-long hiatus from ice hockey—stopped everything put his way, while showing off some acrobatic kick-saves to keep Hertz off the board.

But with just 22 seconds remaining in the second period, Major Ingkharratphithakon snuck one past Beatty to make the score 4-1 heading into the final period.

From there, the fortunes of the two teams reversed. In the third period, Parker put in the type of performance that SHL fans have come to expect from him during the playoffs, denying Novotel another goal despite numerous chances. Dominant substitute playmaker Ken Kindborn, who was suited up for Novotel and has 14 points on the season, was notably kept off the score sheet.

At the other end of the ice, Beatty was peppered with shots from all over. Hertz clawed its way back into the game, and then took the lead, with two goals by substitute Mangkorn Sukwiboon (who is having a banner year, with 10 points), player-of-the-game Darius Konotopetz (who also had an assist) and Mike Wilson.

Trailing 5-4 late in the third, Novotel pulled Beatty in a bid to tie the game, and Hertz sealed the win with an empty-net goal by Arnold Vattanapanyakul.