Inoue faces 61 shots in High1 loss to Eagles

High1 vs Eagles

Reigning champs Oji Eagles are getting their trip to Korea out of the way early in the season. First up, they'll play three games against High1 on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday then face off next weekend against Anyang Halla.

Oji has made few changes from last season with Ryota Minami (D), and Takeshi Ishizuka (F) departing the team and Yuto Ohsawa, Kota Takada, Hiromichi Terao, all forwards, joining the team.

The game got off to a quick start with Swift scoring just 27 seconds into the first, but five minutes later Oji had taken the lead with goals by Ogawa and Terao. High1 outshot the Eagles 14-10 in the first period, but the Eagles were simply starting slowly.

In the second Swift scored short-handed tieing the game up. The Eagles came on stronger outshooting High1 20-14. Despite three power play opportunities the Eagles were unable to put the puck in the net.

Mid-way through the third, their fortune changed and Domeki scored for the Eagles.  Two and a half minutes later during a veritable avalance of shots Saito also scored. With only a couple of minutes remaining Terao scored again to put the Eagles up 5-2. Despite taking only one penalty during the third, High1 found themselves outshot 31-12 in the third period.

Swift's two goals gives him five for the season, scoring half of the 10 goals High1 has put on the board thus far. Sin-il Suh of High1 was -4 on the night having been on the ice for all of the Eagle's goals except the second. The Eagles have only allowed two goals per game in their first three games of the season out-scoring their opponents 15-6.

Cranes vs Icebucks

Elsehwere in the league, the Cranes were taking on the Nikko Icebucks. Despite being outshot, doing worse on the powerplay, and taking more penalties, the Nikko Icebucks managed to get a win in overtime.

The first period was all about the powerplay as both teams scored on the man-advantage. The Cranes scored twice, with the Icebucks getting a single point on a 2 man advantage with Obara and Nishiwaki both in the box for interference.

Early in the second period the Cranes extended the lead to 3-1, while mid-way through the Icebucks nudged closer making it 3-2 of a goal from Ohmachi on his only shot of the game.

The Icebucks tied it up only a couple minutes into the third period as Bembridge managed to find the back of the net. However, the Cranes took the lead a few minutes later as Sakagami scored his second of the game. The Icebucks didn't give up and scored with only 1:20 left in the third period to send the game to overtime where Takeshi Ishizuka scored the game-winning goal half-way through the five minute overtime on the only shot of the period. The Icebucks found themselves outshot 35-26.

Captain Takahito Sazuki of the Icebucks had three assists in the game. Chris Yule had trouble finding the back of the net, but recorded 6 shots on the night.

 

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