Early Game – Scotland vs Ireland

After slipping into 3rd place with only two wins in as many months, the Scottish hoped to reboot with a win against Ireland. who were missing some key personnel in this one.

Both goalies looked strong early on, but it was Rookie Todd MacDougall who got things going with 8 minutes to go in period one. This seemed to put some pep in the step of the Glaswegians as two-way D-man and former Art Ross winner Brad Stoll made it a 2-goal lead before the period ended.

Stoll struck again midway through the second frame to put his team up 3-0 and at that point both goalies lowered the blinds, put the “CLOSED” sign in the window and turned out the lights. A total of ZERO goals in the second half of this game, a credit to both keepers.

But it’s last year’s Vezina Winner Stu Henderson who records the first shutout of the season, pulling his team back up into 2nd place in the standings. Congrats Stu!

Perhaps because of Henderson’s handful of POG’s, the Scottish honours go to their speedy 2-goal D-man, Brad Stoll. The Irish prize goes to Patty Sharp who put the only Irish dent in the scoresheet with his first penalty of the year.

Late Game – Italy vs Portugal

The Italians swept Round 3, looking very much like they might be in the hunt for glory this year, but they have followed up with two straight losses in Round 4. They looked to turn that around in this game against 1st place Portugal, but were missing some key offensive players.

Arty Senkowski and Portugal call-up Fabio Faoro looked very strong in the first, turning away all chances until Joe Peacock bulged the twine with 5 seconds to go. 1-0 Portugal after one.

Don Hambly and Robin Flumerfelt extended Portugal’s lead in the second, Italy still looking to solve Portugal’s goalie without their usual snipers. But the Italians showed no quit and veteran D-man Jay Cummings pounced on a loose puck halfway through the third to make it 3-1 for Portugal.

That would be Faoro’s only blemish, however, and with a late Dave Skingley goal the final score was Portugal 4, Italy 1.

Even with Scotland’s win in the early game, Portugal maintains it’s 3-point first place cushion while Italy takes next week off, hoping to salvage at least one win in Round 4 against Slovenia on February 4.

Portugal’s Player of the Game goes to call-up Fabio Faoro who kept a determined Italian offence at bay. Italian Honours go to Jeff Kostick, back off the IR and looking handsome out there. In his honour, we offer one of his winter training videos below in an old instalment of Koach Kostick’s Korner.