Halla and Blades sweep the opposition

With two games already under the belts, Halla were looking to complete the sweep against the Bucks while the Blades were looking to take the weekend away from the Cranes. Both teams got what they were hoping for and they did it with identical scores.

Halla vs Icebucks

After a rough game Saturday night which saw a lot of bodies going to the penalty box the teams were looking to get back to disciplined play. Halla wasted little time getting things going in the first period. Won-jung Kim scored midway through the first and then again near the end of the period to put Halla up 2-0. Suzuki took a penalty for the Icebucks in the first but Halla weren't able to further capitalize on that.

In the second period the Icebucks roared to life. They scored quickly, only 32 seconds into the period on a shot from Ueno. But Derlago wasn't going to let the Bucks have their way, even if he had to do it all by himself. 2 minutes later, standing in front of the net with his back to the goalie, Derlago tucked the puck between his legs behind him and shot it into the far side of the net. The goalie was not the only one who didn't see that coming as players and fans were stunned alike. It was reminiscent of Marek Malik's shoot-out goal in 2006. The only difference being that Derlago had his back to the goal when he pulled it off. The Bucks didn't give up and a few minutes later David Bonk scored unassisted to bring the Bucks back within one. Unfortunately for the Bucks Derlago was only getting warmed up. Midway through the period he stepped out of the corner, undressed everybody, including the goalie and buried the puck in the back fo the net restoring the two goal lead for Halla. Near the end of the period, the Halla goalie misplayed a puck along the boards which ended up on the waiting stick of a Buck. A quick pass to the front of the net allowed Suzuki to score the teams third goal bringing them once again to within one goal. The Bucks took a controversial high stick penalty in the second. Don-ku Lee was skating in for Halla to take a shot on goal and after the shot immediately felt to the ice clutching his face around the eye. The trainer worked on him on the ice and took him to the bench after some time with a towel on his face. Lee later returned to the game. At the time no referee had signalled a penalty, but after discussion it was determined Junichi Takahashi's stick made contact with Lee.

Derlago went back to work in the third and just after six minutes into the period he scored his third goal for a hat trick. Ueno scored his second of the game with five minutes to go which prompted the Bucks to consider pulling their goalie for the extra attacker. It would prove a fatal decision. Shortly after pulling the goalie Woo-sang Park got a hold of the puck in the Bucks' end and fired it into the empty net. Down 6-4 the Bucks thought they would give it another shot and pulled the goalie again. Geun-ho Kim fired the puck from Halla's end managing to slide it into the empty net at the other end of the ice, dashing the Bucks hopes.

Derlago also assisted on a goal giving him 4 points on the night. Geun-ho Kim had a goal and 4 assists for 5 points. Radunske put together 3 assists and Won-jung Kim had 2 goals and an assist. Ueno had 2 goals for the Bucks and David Bonk and a goal and an assist. Ono and Bembridge each had 2 assists. These teams will next meet on October 19 in Japan. After the game Dong-hwan Kim and Kyung-won Yoon both received small awards for having played 200 games in the Asia League.

Blades vs Cranes

Despite coming close the night before and falling short the Cranes were hoping for a little redemption. After falling behind 2-0 in the first, the Cranes battled back with 2 goals only 28 seconds apart in the second with a third a few minutes later giving them lead. They couldn't hold it though as the Blades tied it up later in the second on the powerplay and then regained the lead in the dying seconds of the period.

In the third the Cranes drew close again at 5-4, but the Blades got another power play goal when Masahito Suzuki scored his second of the game. Down 6-4 the Cranes pulled the goalie, but it was only a few seconds before Ryo Tanaka scored on the empty net.

Despite 7 goals for the Blades no player had more than 2 points, the most notable of which was Suzuki with 2 goals. Shinya Yanadori had a goal and 2 assists for the Cranes and Nishiwaki picked up 2 assists.

 

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