POWHA League Record 2-7-4
Overall Record 3-11-5  

Two Out of Three  For Third Place

April 18 & 19, 2009

Wearing their blue jerseys, the Puffins put together a great team effort to take third place in the POWHA Tournament in Mentor , Ohio , over the weekend.  Every player contributed to the Puffins’ success and just about every player showed up on the score sheets with nine goals and eleven assists in three games.  Sabrina Krickhaus scored three goals, one in every game; Joyce Zwiener had two goals and an assist; Debbie Bayha had three assists while Laura Reisinger had two; Kaysie Strang had two goals; both Gretchen and Janine Maxeiner had a goal and an assist; Terri Eaborn, Marcia Metz, and Brittney Neff each had one assist.  To top it off, goalies Lynn Belliotti and Nicole Redmond shared a shut-out to end the 2008-2009 season.  After a 0-6-4 year, the Puffins finally put some POW in their POWHA!

On Saturday morning, the Puffins defeated the Columbus Bandits for their first POWHA victory.  The Bandits got on the scoreboard with a goal in the first two minutes of the game.  Assisted by Marcia and Janine, Sabrina scored in the second period to tie the game.  Five minutes later, Janine took a pass from Laura and Gretchen and backhanded the puck in to the net to make it 2-1.  Playing their best game of the year, the determined and disciplined (no penalties) Puffins and goalie Lynn held off the Bandits until the buzzer to win the first round of the tournament. (And very happily, this meant no to the 8am Sunday morning consolation game.)

On Saturday afternoon, the Puffins lost 4-1 to the Dayton Fangs, who went on to ultimately take first place in the tournament.  This was the second game of the day for the Puffins and it showed.  While the Fangs were fresh from a morning bye, the Puffins were tired and not at the top of their game.  The Fangs scored first and the Puffins tied it up with a goal by Sabrina on an assist from Laura.  But the Fangs kept scoring and the Puffins didn’t. The Fangs dominated the game with 28 shots on goalie Lynn to the Puffins 9 and won 4-1.  Late in the third period, Gretchen was called for a two minute tripping penalty – the only Puffin penalty of the tournament.

Late on Sunday morning, the Puffins played the Mentor Ice Demons for third place and won 6-0.  With 44 shots on goal, the Puffins took advantage of a good night’s sleep and pressured the Ice Demons’ short bench. By the end of the first period, the Puffins were leading 4-0 with goals by Kaysie and Sabrina (assists by Terri and Debbie) and two goals by Joyce with one assist from Debbie.  The Puffins finished their scoring spree with two goals in the third.  After plenty of action in front of the crease, Gretchen took a pass from Brittney and shot it off the defense to get it past the goalie.  Kaysie, with help from Joyce and Debbie, sealed the deal with the final Puffin goal of the season to make it a 6-0 win and third place in the tournament. 

What a great Puffin weekend! Besides the two marvelous wins and probably the strongest Puffin play of the season, Marcia was honored as a Lower Division Defensive All-Star by the league. The trophy will sit very nicely on her shelf next to last year’s Offensive All-Star award! And Sabrina went out with a memorable 3-goal bang in what were probably her final games as a Puffin—she will most likely have to return to Germany at the end of the summer.