Early Game – Ireland v Portugal

Tight play marked the first period of this one with both goalies their team’s best players. Only one goal in the first period, a shot from Paul Riopelle with less than two minutes to go.

Halfway through the second Peter Freeman put the Irish up 2-0 followed shortly thereafter by Ireland’s newfound sniper Brian Spence who made it 3-0 for the Dubliners.

But Portugal stormed back with two goals in under a minute by Rick Gunther and Chris Johnson to bring the Lisbonites within a goal with less than three minutes to play. It looked like the period would end 3-2 for Ireland, but WAIT. If you left to beat the washroom crowds you missed THREE IRISH SCORES in the last TWO MINUTES of the second period (Johnny Fasulo, Paul Riopelle and Bruce Freeman), absolutely crushing the Portuguese spirit. 6-2 Ireland after two periods.

The Irish would strike twice in the third, one by veteran Neil Kelly, and another for Riopelle to complete the hat-trick (his fourth of the year), but the Portuguese had no fight left and went scoreless in the third. Final score, Ireland 8, Portugal 2.

Ireland’s Player of the Game was league vet Neil Kelly with the nice snipe while Portugal Honours go to team sponsor Gary Julius who provided the fellas with refreshments and spiritual leadership throughout the evening.

Ireland POG Neil Kelly
Portugal POG Gary Julius

Game 2 – Scotland v Slovenia

Another stingy start with no scoring until after halfway through the first when Brad Stoll bulged the twine for Scotland. His teammate Jim Maguire struck like lightning less than 20 seconds later to make it 2-0 for the Glaswegians. Mike Russo put Slovenia on the board with 5 minutes to go but Jeff Boulton broke Slovenia’s heart with only 9 seconds to go in the first period to make it Scotland 3, Slovenia 1.

According to an exclusive source to the PCHOL News, Slovenian coach Dragica Meznar Svetlic Zelezna read the riot act to his squad between periods, threatening to prekinejo svoje privilegije glede pitja if they didn’t pull their nogavices up.

And it apparently worked because the Slovenians scored FOUR UNSANSWERED GOALS in the second period off the blades of Jeff Kostick, Bryce Lewis, Mike Russo and Tim Lochner. The Slovenians went into their locker room after two periods with a 5-3 lead and a platter of prekmurska gibanica awaiting them for their heroics.

The two squads traded goals in the 3rd period (Chris Deware for Scotland and Stephen Davis for Slovenia), but the blitzkrieg of the second period never returned and the Slovenians coasted to a 6-4 victory, giving them a share of first place. They will play Italy next week in a battle for sole possession of top spot.

Scotland POG goes to Brad Stoll while fearless backstop Arty Senkowski takes the Honours for the Slovenians.

Scotland POG Brad Stoll
Slovenia POG Art Senkowski