What can I say, this was a heartbreaking loss. This was arguably the best
hockey game at the "Bullpen" (Omaha Civic Auditorium) to date, including
some of last year's best. This one had just about everything there is in
hockey except a fight/brawl or a penalty shot. The third period was back and
forth action at its finest.
 
Army had the hot man between the pipes, while UNO's star masked man from
last season had another off night. Army capitalized on nearly every UNO
mistake, while UNO's goals were nearly all breakaways or odd-man rushes.
Both teams played sloppy defense; UNO couldn't clear the puck out of its
zone and took stupid penalties, while Army kept giving up breakaways and
odd-man rushes.
 
By my count, Army's 6 goals came on 2 5-3 PP, 2 defensive breakdowns behind
UNO's net, 1 scramble in front of the net, and on the OT game winner they
cought UNO trying to go offensive with a fancy pass when they needed to just
clear the puck and salvage the tie and Army ended up with a 3 on 1 the other
way.
 
UNO's first goal came on the 18th shot of hte first period, a wrister by
Captain Jeff Edwards on a 1 on 1 rush. The second came on a blue line to
blue line pass that set up a breakaway in the 2nd. 3rd and 4th UNO goals
were both odd-man rushes that answered Army goals only seconds earlier. 3rd
one came like 50 seconds after Army's 3rd goal, and the 4th one came 20
seconds after Army's 4th goal on a backdoor play on a rush. UNO's only goal
that came from their set offense came with 36 seconds left in the 3rd, with
the goalie pulled. O'Keffe tipped in a Chalmers shot to tie the game at 5
and goto overtime.
 
Other assorted occurances throughout the game:
-plenty of hard hits
-the obligatory one guy gets a full nelson put on him, but both get called
for roughing penalties
-following back to back UNO penalties, the ref got hit with the puck off a
face off with a dump in shot by a UNO player, drawing cheers from the crowd.
-Later the ref also got hit on a clearing attempt by a UNO player, drawing
jeers from the crowd.
-To the refs credit, he called a fairly even game, but it seemed like for 10
minutes all the calls would go one way, then the next 10 they'd all go the
other way.
-He called 2 man in the crease violations, which I thought was 2 too many.
(though apparently last week a different ref called like 6 of those in 1 game)
 
Game notes:
-Actual attendance (people who actually showed up) for the game was over
7,000 (I think 7,300+)., highest of the year for UNO home games. Kind of
amazing that we drew more people for Army than Maine, I think. That's still
means there were 1,000+ no shows, though that's better than the 2,500 no
shows we've been averaging.
-Saturday's game will be televised locally on O2TV, channel 2 for Cox Cable
subscribers in the Omaha area.
-This weekend is family weekend for UNO. Parents from players are in town
and attending both games.
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      Ben Flickinger
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E-Mail:    [log in to unmask]
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(Stanley Cup Champion) Detroit Red Wings Fan for Life
Proud resident of Bugaha(Omaha)-Home of the FIRST Jim Rome World Tour Stop.
U!N!0! U!N!O!
Everyone can have a bad century or two. Cubbies all the way in 1999.
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QOTW: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that's
why it's called the present." (Unidentified United Airlines Co-Pilot)
 
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