Diablos 5 - Bruins 1

St. Paul, MN. 10-27-07. The Diablos hockey club started its regular season play against the Bruins tonight. The Diablos, 0-3 in the preseason and coming off a lackluster scrimmage against the Renegades Tuesday night, were looking to regroup...and regroup they did. Despite missing thirty percent of their regular roster, goalie Justin Alderink, forwards Rocco Bonello and Mike Monroe, and defensemen Ryan Carroll, Greg Smith, and "Big" Andy Suerth, the Diablos filled in with their exceptional sub staff of Dave Christianson, Larry Eckman and Dean Groth.

The opening night roster was:

Centers Steve Nelson, Ted Reiff and Peter Sinesio
Left Wings John Blasingame, Captain Todd Ewing and Jarick Losey
Right Wings Larry Eckman, Dean Groth and Monique Lindquist

On Defense:

Dave Christenson, Andy Claypool, John Driscoll, Mathieu Lindquist, and
Pieter VanZyl

Sub goalie Don Snyder manned the net.

The Diablos started strong when RW Dean Groth broke the puck free along the boards at the blue line in what has become his signature move and streaked in alone. The Bruins' goalie made the initial save, but Groth battled with the Bruins' defensemen and stuffed the puck into the net at 15:01 of the period for his first regular season goal. Later in the period defenseman
John Driscoll fed breaking C Ted Reiff who skated in alone and scored his first goal of the regular season at 03:58. Driscoll picked up the lone assist.

The second period started much the same as the first, this time with defensemen John Driscoll picking up the puck in his own zone and skating up the right wing boards, breaking back to fire on goal and score unassisted at 15:08. Hard work down low paid off when, at 8:48 of the period, LW John Blasingame crashed the net and was leveled by a Bruins defensemen. On the ensuing power play Captain LW Todd Ewing took a terrific pass from RW Monique Lindquist from behind the net and one timed the puck into the net at 7:04. Lindquist picked up assist on the Ewing's first goal of the regular season and the Diablo's first power play goal. The Bruins got on the board at 5:52 of the period with a power play goal as C Steve Nelson sat in the penalty box on a dubious slashing call.

The third period followed the trend set in the first two with the Diablos scoring an early goal. C Steve Nelson got back the goal he watched from the box at 15:52 when he slammed home a feed from RW Dean Groth for his first regular season tally. The save of the game also came in the period when C Ted Reiff hustled back and made a diving stick save on the rebound shot at the end of a Bruins two on one. Goalie Don Snyder made the first save, but the puck popped right onto the stick of the Bruins trailer. The Bruins forward was looking at an empty net and without Reiff's heroics it would have been a sure goal. The rest of the game was uneventful as the Diablos cruised to their first win as a team and a final score of 5-1. Shots on goal were 38 for the Diablos and 23 for the Bruins.

Stars of the game:

#1 C Ted Reiff (1g, 1a)
#2 RW Dean Groth (1g, 1a)
#3 D John Driscoll (1g, 1a)

Next up - At home against the Muskies D1 on 11-03-07 at 9:45pm at SLP East. AHA Statsheet. -JB