Sich and Keller Spark Seals Victory
November 17, 2006 - SPHL (SPHL)
Florida Seals News Release
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Facing their first road game of the season and in the throws of a three game losing streak, the Florida Seals hockey team needed a big lift.
Rob Sich and Justin Keller each scored twice and goaltender Terry Denike stopped 34 of 35 shots to give the Seals a much needed 6-1 victory over the Richmond Renegades Friday night at the Silver Spurs Arena.
"It was fun to play and I'm sure it was fun to watch," Sich said. "Finally we were able to get a win and it feels good."
The Seals, facing yet another Friday night against a tough opponent, desperately need a good start. They got it 7:04 into the first period when Sich and Justin Keller broke in. Keller's pass from the boards was tipped home by Sich for the 1-0 Florida lead. It stayed that way until the last seconds of the period when Sich somehow found the puck in a scrum in front of Richmond goalie Jay Chrapala and shoved it home to give the Seals a 2-0 lead at the break.
"I think the biggest thing was that we weren't working as hard," Keller, who added two assists, said. "We had to get back to hard nosed hockey and working hard and the breaks will come for us."
Florida's anemic power play then got itself untracked in the second. Playing on a 5-on-3 advantage, the Seals got the puck to Lawne Snyder in the high slot. Snyder faked the shot and passed to Keller who blasted a shot from the face-off circle into the net to make it 3-0.
Denike was sharp while Chrapala did his best to keep the Renegades in the game. "I expected a bigger effort from them but that's the way it goes," Richmond Coach John Brophy said. "They (Florida) played very well."
Florida's lead grew to 4-0 less than a minute into the third when captain Steve Zoryk walked right down the slot, made a deke move and beat Charpala cleanly for another power play goal. Richmond finally dented Denike at the 8:16 mark when Danny White whistled a shot from the far circle past the Seals' net minder. Keller got that one back two minutes later with a wicked blast from the face-off circle. Florida finished off the scoring when Tim Vitek scored his first as a Seal on the power play.
The final two minutes of the game deteriorated into a war as no less than four fights, two games misconducts and Richmond Coach Brophy being ejected all occurred, stretching the game out considerably.
"We played pretty solid top to bottom. Every line produced. Every line did something," Seals Coach Tommy Stewart said. "It was just a matter of time that the guys realized that they have to work every night and when they do work it's going to come easy but if they don't work it's going to be dogfights like it has been."
The Seals make their first road trip of the season, heading to Fayetteville, North Carolina for a Saturday night match-up with the FireAntz while the Renegades head up I-95 to Jacksonville to face the Barracudas.
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SPHL Stories from November 17, 2006
- Havoc wins rematch with Pee Dee - Huntsville Havoc
- Sich and Keller Spark Seals Victory - Florida Seals
- FireAntz take the road shorthanded - Fayetteville Marksmen
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