Early Game – Slovenia vs Ireland

We’re off to the races with a brand new PCOHL Season and we kick it off with a game between Ireland and Slovenia. It’s over a thousand miles from Ljubljana to Dublin, but these two teams are no strangers to each other, this game a rematch of last year’s barn-burner of a Bronze Medal game which the Slovenians took by a goal.

Goalies Art Senkowski (Slovenia) and Tony Cioffi (Ireland) showed no signs of summer rust, shutting down all chances in the first except Tim Randa’s mid-period goal that put the Irish ahead after one.

Peter Freeman put Ireland ahead by 2 mid-way through the second period (both Randa and Freeman wearing the green again this year and obviously looking for redemption from their defeat on Champ Day last May). Rick Cecchetto brought Slovenia within a goal late in the second to make it Ireland 2, Slovenia 1 going into the third.

The goalies looked sharp in the final frame until Slovenia rookie Ciro Napolitano and Ireland’s Johnny Fasulo traded goals midway through the third to make it 3-2 for the Irish. But the Slovenians went into another gear in the last 10 minutes of the game, blasting Ireland with goals from Slovenia Sponsor Dave Dodic and long-time league spokesman Mike Rukavina, robbing Ireland of the redemption they came for and notching their first win of the season.

Slovenia player of the game goes to rookie Ciro Napolitano while Johnny Fasulo gets the honours for Ireland.

Late Game – Scotland vs Italy

The late match featured last year’s champs from Italy vs the 5th place Scottish, another team looking for redemption.

Scotland came out BLAZING in this one, putting three past Italian netminder Tomi Niemenen in less than 2 minutes. Tony Thomas, Agostino Falcone and Chris Deware bulged the twine to end the first period with a 3-0 lead against the stunned Romans.

Smooth skating Dwayne Tygeson put the Italians on the board early in the second and John Levac narrowed it to a goal five minutes later. Robin Flumerfelt tied things up late in the period but Deware notched his second of the night to make it 4-3 Scotland after two.

But Italy goalie Nieminen got the smelling salts out at the break and denied every Scottish chance in the third period, allowing Dave Wodar and Greg Platt to push the Italians ahead by a goal when the final buzzer rang. Another great one-goal game for this opening night. Italy 5, Scotland 4.

Italy Player of the Game goes to Greg Platt while stalwart backstop Stew Henderson takes the Honours for Scotland.

Next week’s early game will pit Ireland against Italy while Portugal starts its season against Slovenia in the late show.

Great first week with good competition and sportsmanship all around.