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Once again the Wranglers scored first in the game at 11:03 on a goal by Grant Long, #6 with assists by Purslow and Riemersma. The Generals replaced yesterday's rookie goalie Levitan with veteran Ohmart. Unfortunately the Generals tied the score with a goal less than a minute later. The rest of the period the Wranglers and Generals fought hard with no goals. Wranglers goalie Jared Blanton was "standing on his head" in goal stopping 22 out of 23 shots. The Wranglers offense continues to struggle with only a meager 7 shots on goal. The Generals probably hoped that Blanton would tire so their continuous shot assault would prove fruitful later in the game.The Generals scored three goals in the second period to make the score 4-1. Once again the Generals scored on a short-handed opportunity. Jared continued his excellent play even after the attempt by Eugene's Micheal Frei to take him out - accidentally of course. Blanton was stunned for a moment but then came back to stop 20 out of 23 Generals shots. Most of the 2nd period was played in the Wranglers zone, the Wranglers did manage 5 shots but for the most part Ohmart was bored at his end of the ice. The Wranglers are playing with a lot of heart and hustle, but it is not enough for a good quality team like the Generals. The forwards seem to be coming back to help the "D" but still the defense is letting too many Generals players get shots on goal. And, I still see too many passes missed or simply tipped off to the Generals. There simply just isn't the offensive production that is needed to win.
The 3rd period was a good period for the Wranglers, they started it off by a goal from #10 Aaron Riemersma (assisted by G. Long & J. Purslow) and then another goal by #6 Grant Long (assisted by Riemersma and M. Miglioretto) bringing the game to 4-3. The momentum started to swing the Wranglers way and the Wranglers started to believe they could pull it off. They kept the puck in the Generals zone passing it out to the points who made a few shots on goal too. Even then the Wranglers only got 10 shots on goal to 28 shots by the Generals. Again, Blanton "stood on his head" to stop 26 of 28 shots. The defense started stepping up keeping the Generals from shooting at will. I noticed several times the Wrangler "D" making some good stops and stealing the puck from the Generals. Near the end of the 3rd period the Wranglers were put at a disadvantage by a fight between Holder and Vaitaitas. Unfortunately Vaitaitas did more and received an additional penalty putting the Wranglers in a penalty kill situation for the rest of the game. From what I understand he not only received a game misconduct, but a match penalty too. The game ended with the Wranglers losing to the Generals 3-6.
The Wranglers did a great job in the 3rd period tying the period with the Generals 2-2. It was the 2nd period's 3 goals that did the damage to the Wranglers. Otherwise, the game would have been tied at 3-3 instead of 6-3. Defenseman Grant Long made a difference along with many other Wrangler players. But the real kudo's go to Jared Blanton who faced a whopping 74 shots throughout the game while only letting in 6. Congratulations Jared! While I'm still disappointed with the loss I'm satisfied with the 3rd period performance. Way to go Wranglers.
Next up for the Wranglers are the River City Jaguars next weekend. They're going to be looking for redemption after being swept by the Coeur d'Alene Lakers.
