Halla pepper Bucks, Blades edge out Cranes

After a couple of hard defeats to the Eagles at home, Halla have bounced back and won three of their last four. Their last two victories come against the Ice Bucks who knocked them out of the playoffs last year. Perhaps looking for a little revenge, they had two solid wins and there have been a few scraps as well.

Speaking of scraps, the Gordie Howe Hat trick may need a slight redefinition in the Asia League. For whatever reason, the League seems loathe to hand out fighting majors even when the gloves are dropped. The players also seem hesitant to fully drop the gloves and often brawl with the gloves on. For those reasons, the roughing penalty, and especially the double minor roughing is more or less code for a fight. No one would deny that a full line brawl between Halla and the Ice Bucks that included both players and referees being knocked head over heels was a fight, but during the entire altercation not a single player had their gloves come off. Only when it was more or less said and done did two players who decided they weren't quite done finally toss the gloves off, but they were separated at the last moment by linesmen and other players. Unfortunately the League makes no distinctions between a regular roughing penalty and a fight that ends up called as a roughing penalty, so trying to get any statistics on that would be quite difficult. 

Thursday

Halla got off to a quick start on Thursday night with Don-ku Lee scoring only 1:15 into the game. Halla heavily outshot the Bucks 14 to 5 in the opening period. Won-Jung Kim scored for Halla near the end of the second period and Seung-yup Lee scored early into the third to give Halla a 3-0 lead. The Bucks finally got on the board midway through the third on a goal from David Bonk.
Late in the third an altercation left Halla on the penalty kill. Garret Bembridge didn't waste much time in burying the puck in the next with 1:39 to go. The Bucks pulled the goalie, but Mark Derlago got ahold of a nice pass from Woo-sang Park and fired it into the empty net sealing defeat for the Bucks. Despite scoring a couple goals the Bucks couldn't muster anything beyond 6 shots in the period.
The teams kept the penalties low in the game only receiving six minutes each. Halla heavily outshot the Bucks 47 to 22.

Saturday

Anyang Halla vs Icebucks

Looking for a little redemption the Bucks faced off against Halla again on Saturday night. Before the game Bonk noted that with star netminder Fukufuji out injured and Ueno receiving a 10 game suspension things had been tough for them lately. It wouldn't get any better tonight.

Halla started the game much like they started Thursday's game. 1:11 into the game Bum-jin Kim scored. Three minutes later Mark Derlago scored his second in as many games on the powerplay, and three and a half minutes after that Min-ho Cho scored putting Halla up 3-0. Things slowed down a bit after that, and the Bucks made a better show of it only being outshot 12-8.

In the second Bembridge scored on the powerplay for the Bucks giving them a little life. However, Jackman managed to score another only a few minutes later. A few seconds after his goal a hit along the boards resulted in a scuffle seeing both teams have two players sent off for roughing. Three minutes later Radunske scored again for Halla putting them up 5-2.


*A linesman is dumped during a scuffle

Early in the third Woo-sang Park scored to put Halla up 6-2 and frustrations were becoming evident. Won-jung Kim also added another goal mid-way through the third. Naoya Fukuzawa got one for the Bucks but it was an uphill battle by that point. At the 56 minute mark another scuffle lead to the Icebucks going on the penalty kill. When it finished a shoving match in front of the Icebucks net which saw two Icebucks players attack a Halla player from behind resulted in a full line brawl with all players pairing off and tussling. Several players were upended, as well as a linesman. The fans cheered as each Icebuck was knocked to the ice and the players continued to grapple on the ice as there were not enough officials to contorl the melee. Despite all players being equally involved in the melee and the fight starting clearly from two Bucks taking shots at the Halla player from behind, Halla was awarded an extra penalty. Bonk and Bum-jin Kim both received misconduct penalties for their part in the fight. The game ended 7-3 with several men in the box for each team.

Halla again outshot the bucks 40-23, and each team ended with 28 minutes in penalties. A sharp contrast from Thusrday night. The teams meet again Sunday night for the final part of this three game set. After the game was finished Halla had a retirement ceremony for #89 Han-sung Kim. Kim was the first Korean native to play in the American Minor Pro level in 2003. He had 16 points in 32 games and then came back to play with Halla the following season where he played until he retired this season. He had 136 points in 216 games while in the Asia League.
*Photo courtesy Anyang Halla

Freeblades vs Cranes

The Freeblades got a late start, but ultimately patience paid off for them. After losing three in a row, the Blades were looking for a more positive start to this weekend's games and they got it.

The Cranes started the game well getting two early goals from Kengo Ito and Hiroshi Sato. In the second they got an early goal from Daisuke Obara and looked to be well in control of the game. Despite being outshot 28 to 17 through the first two periods. In the last minute of the second period though Ryo Tanaka showed a spark and scored a short handed making the game 3-1.

In the third period David Wrigley scored to make the game 3-2 but the Cranes pulled away again a few minutes later off a goal from Hidenao Kokubo. The Cranes started to have penalty trouble as they took five minor penalties in the third. The Blades took advantage and got another powerplay goal from Kota Shinohara. With a little over three minutes left, Masahito Suzuki scored for the Blades tying the game up.

Overtime started 3 on 3 as both teams took a minor penalty with 1 second left in regulation time. Overtime was even with 4 shots each, but solved nothing and the game went to a shoot-out. After three shooters a side, they went to sudden death shoot-outs and Kosuke Takahashi scored for the Blades. Michikazu Hat was then able to stymie Masahito Nishiwaki and clinch the victory. Despite the lopsided first two periods the Blades only outshot the Cranes 45 to 39. The teams will meet again Sunday night.

 

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