Final Game against Kristianstad and the Semi-Finals

We made the 80 minute drive Northeast of Malmo this morning for our final game of the tour against Kristianstad Wild Kings. They have a beautiful new arena and we finally experienced a rink where the boys did not have to wear their skate guards to walk from the room to the ice. Most rinks here have concrete floors in the rooms and everywhere leading to the ice surface, this one has a nice rubber floor. The boys came out pumped up after a few days off and scored quickly, with Anthony Tolfa finding the back of the net off a pass from Brett Lawrie 4:57 into the game. Kristianstad answered back 3 minutes later but then the Trojans potted two quick ones at 8:10 (Kelly from Joynt) and 8:52 (Joynt from Prodger and Kelly) to take a 3-1 lead. The Wild Kings battled back again and made the score 3-2 at the 10:37 mark. With just under four minutes left in the first, Eric Gordon took control of the puck and scored a nice goal to make it 4-2 HSC, which would be the score after 1.

In the second, Josh Prodger buried a blistering one-timer from the slot off a nice Joynt-Kelly passing play. The goalie didn't even see the puck as it sailed past him. Kristianstad wasn't ready to give up yet and found the back of the net again less than a minute later to make it 5-3. Anthony Tolfa scored his second of the game shortly after that to make it 6-3. At the 6:34 mark, the host team scored their fourth of the game in what was quickly becoming a defensive no-show for both teams. Carson Hobbes was removed from the net at that point and Matt Gledhill came in to try to settle the Trojans down a bit. At 9:19, Anthony Tolfa completed his hat trick with Eric Gordon earning the assist. Will Kelly scored his second of the game at 11:25 with Jeff Joynt sending him in alone and then Kelly backhand toe-dragged around the goalie and put it in.  It was a very cheeky move that Joynt had been unsuccessful at the previous shift, so Kelly was just showing Joynt how it's done. Joynt then put his second of the game away on a nice pass from Brett Lawrie. After two, HSC went into the locker room with a 9-4 lead.  

The coaches made some lineup changes and moved some players around in an effort to not embarass our gracious hosts too much. The only scoring in the third saw Will Kelly finishing off his hat trick from Brett Lawrie and then adding one more late in the game on a beautiful pass from Lucas Fracassi.

I will not write much about the World Juniors Semi-final games we went to, as I assume most of you watched the game at home.  The Sweden-Russia game was a nail biter that ended in some fisticuffs, but the Canada game had absolutely no flow and was really boring.  The entire crowd was yelling at the Finns to play some hockey, but as you no doubt saw, they very successfully trapped Canada and ended our hopes of a Gold medal.  

Tomorrow morning we're off to the Fotevekin Viking Reserve in the morning followed by the Bronze medal at 3:00 and the Gold at 7:00.  It's hard to believe it's our last day here, but I know the boys are all looking forward to getting home and back to school.  Is the sarcasm evident in my typing?

Coach Z