By Sam DeLeon
After a tough loss last night to the hands of the Goodwin Bulls Alumni, the Puerto Rican men’s national team would face off against Tito’s Vodka team in game two of “Serie De Desafiadores”. In game two of the weekend the men’s national team would look to get their first win of the weekend.
First Period
To start the game the Puerto Rican men’s national team would look much better than they did in their first game of the weekend. The men’s national team would come out the gate with the fire already lit underneath their feet, not waiting for something to wake them up.
At 8:44 in the first the Puerto Rican men’s national team would strike first with their only goal of the game scored by #17 Kevin Lewis, assisted by Kevin Rosello. Shortly after they went up 1-0, Tito’s Vodka would come down and score at 6:28 of the first.
This would really wake up Tito’s vodka because after this goal was scored they would continue great play throughout the rest of the game, a challenge the Puerto Rican men’s national team may not have been quite prepared for.
Second Period
In the second period Tito’s Vodka would continue their dominance against the Puerto Rican men’s national team. Tito’s Vodka could move the puck great, they defended very well, they had their breakouts down, their forechecking and backchecking was never an issue and some phenomenal goaltending made playing against this team quite challenging.
At 12:33 of the second Tito’s Vodka would score their first of the period on a goal from #77 assisted by #11 and #88. Two minutes and eleven seconds later Tito’s Vodka would strike again on the men’s national team with their third goal being scored by #39 on a feed from #17.
That would cap off the scoring for Tito’s Vodka in the second period, but not for lack of opportunities. The Puerto Rican men’s national team would take a penalty at 9:06 of the second on a holding call, the men’s national team would successfully kill this penalty. Again at 4:56 in the second, #28 Jacob Zemianek would take a high-sticking penalty but Puerto Rico would prevail again with another great penalty kill effort.
Third Period
Heading into the third only trailing by two goals, the Puerto Rican men’s national team would look to come out the gates hot and get something going, but unfortunately Tito’s Vodka played way to sound of a game to let the men’s national team score any goals.
At 12:25 in the third the Puerto Rican men’s national team would let up another goal to Tito’s Vodka, the goal was scored by #77 again on a feed from #11, the second time these teammates would combine for a goal that night. Less than a minute later at 11:32 in the third, the men’s national team would let in yet another goal scored by #9 and assisted by #23 on Tito’s Vodka. This would be the last goal of the game for either team.
Although the scoring may have been over this game would turn into a penalty fest in the last five minutes of regulation. Two time goal scorer of the game #77 on Tito’s Vodka would take a nasty interference penalty at 4:54 in the third, this was followed by #24 Dennis Ruppe, of Puerto Rico taking an Interference penalty at 4:23 in the third. Two more penalties would be called in the remainder of the game, both on Tito’s Vodka, #44 would take a tripping call at 3:32 in the third and #66 would take a hooking penalty at 1:32 in the third. The rest of the game would be played out with no more action happening.
Takeaways
The Puerto Rican men’s national team will need to put up a better effort in their third and final game of the “Serie De Desafiadores”. Although this men’s national team is filled with talent from everywhere, they will need to really refine their play for their rematch against the Goodwin Bulls Alumni team on day three. Keep in mind it is not the easiest thing for the Puerto Rican men’s national team to just instantly dominate against these teams that all play together on the regular, but in game three the Puerto Ricans will really need to bring their A-game.