Haacke, Keller, Sich Lead Seals Over Richmond
November 4, 2006 - SPHL (SPHL)
Florida Seals News Release
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Following yet another dismal performance on a Friday night, the Florida Seals knew they would have to work hard if they were going to defeat the unbeaten Richmond Renegades.
Did they ever.
Paced by the newly formed line of Justin Keller, Rob Sich and rookie Chad Haacke, the Seals soundly defeated the Renegades 7-2 Saturday night at the Silver Spurs Arena.
"I made it clear last night that I was tired (of the team's inconsistent play) of that and it wasn't going to happen like this all year," Florida Head Coach Tommy Stewart said. "Richmond came in here 3-0 and is one of if not the hardest working team in the league. We outworked them and outplayed them. It was nice to see."
The first period had all the feel of two heavyweight fighters feeling each other out. Both goalies, Doug Groenestege for Richmond and Matt Balsar for Florida, were equal to the task. Neither team had much of an advantage and the period ended at 0-0.
Early in the second, Balsar was called for delay of game for clearing the puck out of play. On the ensuing penalty kill, Justin Keller fed Rob Sich for a clean breakaway. His first shot attempt was thwarted but he stayed with the puck, circling behind the net and beating Groenestege to the post for a goal. The lead increased to 2-0 at the 14:16 mark when rookie Chad Haacke found the puck in a sea of skates in front and sailed it home.
Haacke was playing up on the line with Keller and Sich due to an injury to winger Craig Miller. The rookie made the most of his opportunity.
"I kind of got lucky. You never like to see a guy go down but I got to play up with Sich and Keller. When you play with two players like that, goals just kind of come to you," Haacke said. "We seemed to click and we had a really good night. The three of us couldn't be much happier with the win tonight."
The energy in the arena stayed high when on the face-off, Florida's Cedric Bernier and Richmond's Brett Cross dropped the gloves and went toe-to-toe. Bernier seemed to get the best of the brawl and it looked like there would be more to come.
With just over two minutes left in the period. Seals' captain Steve Zoryk was Johnny-on-the-spot, batting the puck out of mid air into the net to make it 3-0. The Renegades finally answered in the final minute of the stanza when Tyler Schremp tipped in a pass from Dean Jackson on a power play.
Florida took advantage of a Renegades mistake 1:09 into the third as Sich and Keller played give and go, ending with Keller depositing the puck into a wide open net. Five minutes later, Keller picked up his second of the night when he took a pass from behind the net from Haacke during a Seals man advantage.
Richmond replaced Groenestege in net with Jay Chrapala. 21 seconds after the change, Keller and Haacke walked in 2-on-1 with Keller feeding Haacke for a wicked drive that found the back of the net.
Richmond closed the margin to 6-2 at the 7:25 mark when Danny White took a feed from Richard Reichenbach and beat Balsar. In between, Bernier had his second tussle of the night, this time with David Mitchell who had gotten him from behind earlier in the period. Both players got in their shots in an evenly matched battle. Kahlil Thomas capped the evening with a goal in the final minute.
"We overplayed them each and every play and they played very well," Richmond Head Coach John Brophy said about his team's effort. "We hadn't lost a game before that and we turn around play like that. I wouldn't care if we tried but we never tried at all."
The Seals are back at the Silver Spurs Arena this Friday, November 10 against the Columbus Cottonmouths. Game time is 7:35 P.M.
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SPHL Stories from November 4, 2006
- Haacke, Keller, Sich Lead Seals Over Richmond - Florida Seals
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