By Samuel DeLeon
On day two of Fiesta De Hockey, PRIHA would hold many practices, scrimmages, and games for all players involved. All three men's groups would play games on day two, while the U20 and U18 groups would also get to play games.
Men's Group 1 VS. Bardown
In the biggest game of the day, it was definitely a showdown for the ages. The Puerto Rican’s would defeat team Bardown 3-2, but that score could not even begin to describe the intensity and tenacity that this game was played with.
In the first period the Puerto Rican’s would strike first and not surrender their lead for the whole game. This was a very action packed game with plenty of hits, penalties, banter between both teams, shots, scrums, chirps, and goals. In this game one thing that really stood out was Puerto Rico’s intensity they brought the whole game. A lot of teams when leading will play a bit more passive, but this team kept hammering away out-shooting team Bardown 60-30.
Late in the 2nd period while leading by 2, team Bardown would net one, cutting the Puerto Rican’s lead in half. Heading into the 3rd they tenacity of this game would really heat up with big open ice hits, corner battle after corner battle, net front scrums, behind the play tussles, and every ingredient you could imagine that goes into the makings of a great hockey game. The Puerto Rican’s would score again in the middle of the third making the score 3-1, but team bardown would strike again making the game 3-2. The Puerto Rican’s would hold onto the lead and secure the win.
This game had a lot of positives for the Puerto Rican’s, this game was a great one for Group 1 to start with. In a pretty full barn for the Puerto Rican’s, the building was rocking with fans, music, bongos, maracas, horns, and Puerto Ricans having a good time
U18 VS. Sabres
In the U18 game, the Puerto Ricans would be bested by the Sabres 5-0 in a tough loss to start the groups in-game action for the weekend. This was a hard fought game by both teams, but the established Sabres team would be proven too much of a challenge for the U18 group. Towards the end of the game, the Puerto Ricans would start to build some chemistry, looking like a better team, but would do too little, too late. Although a tough loss, it was great to see our U18 group back in action, with a huge thank you to the Sabres organization for coming out to play us.
U20 VS. Reapers
For the U20 group, they would face off against the Chicago Reapers AAA U18 team. In this game the U20 group would fall to the Reapers 12-5. The Reapers would come out of the gates playing like the very established team they are known nationwide for being. The Puerto Ricans would put up a good fight and no goal was an easy one for the Reapers, but the experience and chemistry that the Reapers had would be too much for the Puerto Ricans to handle. Although the score was 12-5, by the time the third period came around, the Puerto Ricans were really starting to click, outshooting the Reapers 4-1 in the 3rd, but by that time it was too late.