Diablos Boat the Muskies

St. Louis Park, MN. 11-03-07. Coming off a big win over the Bruins in their first regular season game as a team, the Diablos hockey club looked to build on their success. The result? A 5-0 win, two more points, and the opportunity to at least retain a share of first place in the D1 West Division.

Sporting a lineup depleted of regulars, the Diablos filled in with their able bodied subs and did what it took to secure the victory. Saturday's game featured the first game of the regular season for regular goalie Justin Alderink, defensemen Greg Smith and Ryan Carroll, and forwards Mike Monroe and Rocco Bonello. Missing from the lineup were defensemen "Big" Andy Suerth and Andy Claypool, and team Captain forward Todd Ewing. All three subs, Larry Eckman, Dave Christianson, and Dean Groth stepped up and played well.

The game started well with the Diablos, wearing their home whites with the intimidating devil on the front, carrying the play in the first period. The Muskies came out flat and the Diablos took advantage. LW John Blasingame scored his first AHA regular season goal at 10:11 of the first, stuffing home a loose puck in the crease from behind the net. C Steve Nelson got the assist with his strong play out front and several shots from close in that put the Muskies' goalie down. The Diablos got another hard working goal at 5:42 of the period when C Peter Sinesio scored his first AHA goal on a feed from LW Jarick Losey, the other half of the Diablos' "Maniacs."

In the second period the Muskies came out flying and carried the play. The Diablos' forwards couldn't find their legs. The defense stepped up and kept the play to the outside and G Justin Alderink stood tall. The period ended with the Diablos clinging to their two goal lead and looking to regroup.

In the third period the Diablos took advantage of the Muskies' shorter bench and regained control of the game as the Muskies lost steam. C Steve Nelson broke free at the blue line and scored on a nifty wrist shot from 30 feet out at 10:08 of the period, rifling the best shot of the day past a screened Muskies' goalie. At 6:04 of the period Nelson broke another one free and went in on a two on one with LW John Blasingame. Nelson tried to pass across to Blasingame for the shot, but Blasingame was hooked down by a Muskies defender and never got a shot away. On the ensuing power play, just 24 seconds in at 6:28, LW Jarick Losey scored his first AHA goal, banking a shot off a defenseman's chest. C Peter Sinesio got the assist. C Ted Reiff iced the game just 19 seconds later at 6:09 with his second goal of the year. LW Rocco Bonello picked up his first point of the year with the assist on Reiff's goal.

All in all a solid performance for the Diablos with all three forward lines contributing goals. Goalie Justin Alderink was exactly as advertised, turning aside everything the Muskies threw at him, and the defense made sure that most of the shots he saw were from bad angles or at least partially blocked out front. The Diablos did a better job this week staying out of the penalty box and only had to kill off one penalty late in the game. Shots on goal for the Diablos were 6-9-9 for 24, for the Muskies 4-8-8 for 20.

Stars of the game:

#1 G Justin Alderink
#2 C Steve Nelson (1g, 1a)
#3 The Maniacs - C Peter Sinesio and LW Jarick Losey (1g, 1a each)

Next up - At home again against the Nemesis on 11-11-07 at 7:55pm at SLP East. Official AHA Scoresheet. -JB