Early Game – #1 Slovenia vs. #4 Portugal

A great early matchup with Team Portugal looking to get their 4th win in a row against the first place Slovenians.

A tight-checking first period saw the two teams trade singles from their respective point leaders Riopelle and Platt. Then the game burst open with 6 goals in the second frame. Platt and Wodar scored for the Portuguese but the Slovenians won the period with 2 from Dwayne Tygesen and singles from big D-man George Letsos and Dr. Joel May.

Down 5-3, the Portuguese were looking for a comeback third, but the 1st place Slovenians were having none of it. Keeping Portugal scoreless while piling on 3 more goals from Tony Thomas, Dwayne Tygesen (for the hat-trick) and Team Sponsor David Dodic, the Slovenians hold on to 1st place with a convincing 8-3 win, handing Portugal their first loss in 4 games.

Tony Thomas takes Player of the Game Honours for Slovenia while Neil Wilson gets his second POG in two games.

Late Game – #2 Ireland vs. #2 Italy

The late show featured two teams tied for 2nd place and looking to knock each other down a peg.

After a scoreless 13 minutes, Ireland Sniper Tim Randa finally broke the ice, but Italy’s Dave Vincelli and Steve Atchison scored 10 seconds apart to put Italy up 2-1. The Italian accounting firm of Vincelli & DiLuzio scored two more (this time 20 seconds apart) to blow the game open 4-1 before Matt Goddard bulged the twine for Ireland, ending the first period 4-2.

The Boys from Belfast came out swinging in the second period with three unanswered goals — a single by Tim Freeman and two more by Tim Randa for the hat-trick to put the Irish ahead 5-4 going into the third period.

But Irish eyes were not smiling as the Italians scored 3 unanswered goals in the third period off the sticks of John Levac, Tony Deluca and John Annan. Final score: Italy 7, Ireland 5. The Italians take sole possession of 2nd place while the Irish continue their descent.

John Annan picks up the Player of the Game for Italy while Irish sniper Tim Randa gets POG with the hat-trick for Ireland.