Game 1 Ends with Valencia Flying in for a 3-2 California Win

Well what can I say. The Flyers of southern California have handed the Maulers their 2nd loss since about mid-January. You know I would usually say something positive here about what the team did, and I will in just a second, but first I want to point out something. I have been a Maulers fan for quite awhile and to be honest, my favorite season was the 2011-2012 season because the guys had so much spark and they wanted to win and they wanted to prove all of the doubters wrong. They were a power team beating everyone else out of the AWHL as the Regular Season Champions but now it seems like they are tired all the time and the spark is gone. I so desperately wish it would come back, it made games fun and the guys were always willing to fight harder each match they were faced with. Nowadays they seem to just accept that they are going to lose going into games and that is exactly what happens. Something needs to change within the organization itself, whether it be a coaching/managerial problem or an organization problem in general, because if they want their fans back and they want the players to get hyped up to put that jersey on, nothing is going to change about their current situation unless they do it first. I thought the boys played well overall coming within one of tying the game for a third time. Bring the joy of hockey back and everything will fall into place. Until they do that, the loss column will be a pretty good instigator.

There was no scoring in the first period.

Valencia drew first blood with a geno from the stick of #9 Zach Paxman and an assist for #22 Jakob Kranabetter at 2:37. Austin Auzzinnaro tied things up for your Missoula boys at 7:01 when his shot went past Luke Thompson. Corey Schafer and Joey Sundgren were given apples for this power play goal. #14 Austin Ehrlich gave the Flyers their first lead of the game at 15:51 with the last goal scored in the period. Kranabetter and Paxman picked up 1 more point each.

At 4:04 in the third, Auzzie tied everything up at 2 with a beauty goal assisted by Nikita Sheptytskyy and Joey Sundgren. This would be the last Maulers geno of the game. #26 for Valencia Luc Whyte scored the game winning goal at 17:40 with the help of #18 Jared Waldman and #7 Sam Taferner. His goal would end the scoring for the 60 minutes.

The next two games of this series will be on the 25th at 12:15 pm PST and on the 26th at 1:15 pm PST. Don't miss out!

The boys loading the plane bound for California in Spokane, Washington (home to almost 1/2 of the players)

Pre-game warm ups with Janzen finally back in the cage!

Statistics:

PENALTIES:

Period 1:

Missoula Maulers - Joey Porco (Interference) 2 Minutes, 13:00

Period 2:

Valencia Flyers - Chase Thesman (Cross Checking) 2 Minutes, 6:52

Valencia Flyers - Niklas Giers (Roughing) 2 Minutes, 13:19

Missoula Maulers - Edward Pollon (Roughing) 2 Minutes, 13:19

Period 3:

Missoula Maulers - Joey Porco (Roughing) 2 Minutes, 8:14

Valencia Flyers - Zach Paxman (Roughing) 2 Minutes, 8:14

Missoula Maulers - Jordan Wheatly (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) 2 Minutes, 10:44

Valencia Flyers - Blake Aguilar (Interference) 2 Minutes, 13:56

SHOTS ON GOAL:

Missoula Maulers - 31 total

Valencia Flyers - 40 total

POWER PLAYS:

Missoula Maulers - 1 for 2

Valencia Flyers - 0 for 2

GOALTENDERS:

#31 Cody Janzen for Missoula Maulers: 60 Minutes played, 40 shots on goal 37 saves

#30 Luke Thompson for Valencia Flyers: 60 Minutes played, 31 shots on goal 29 saves