Shockers need OT to settle against Vendetta

Final Score
Shockers 6
Vendetta 5 (OT)

Last night was one of the Shockers' shakiest games since maybe their debutant season at the Rinque; narrowly taking home the win in overtime against a team that they should have shown up to play.

Vendetta, despite being in the cellar of the standings, gave a good fight constantly nipping at the heels of the Shockers. On at least three or four of Vendetta's goals, the Shockers' defense might as well have been invisible as there were guys all alone in front of the net.

Vendetta took advantage of a shaky outing by Giancarlo Capaz, who had a couple of rattletrap moments during the game including a very dangerous challenge on a loose ball that hopped over his stick and almost into the net. Then there were other moments where he was left to hang when Vendetta attackers were all over rebounds that the Shockers couldn't get their sticks on. Even though Capaz looked not too happy with his performance after the game, he had to feel some sort of pride in the big saves late in the third and in overtime which, in the end, ended up being the turning point for the Shockers to get the win.

The offense for the Shockers was carried by the brothers Chris and Steve Diabo and the sour cream-filling of the native taco, Chris Millar as they accounted for four of the five regulation time goals. Chris Diabo slapping together a bukkake of highlight-reel moves featured some crazy shots on net including one from on top of the faceoff circle top shelf passed the Vendetta goalie that made him look like a statuette of "Red Light" Racicot. The other two lines, struggling to make an impact on the scoresheet, might face more mixing and matching according to captain, Andrew Stevens, "we're still trying to find a working combination to get us firing on all cylinders. We tried something new last night and it didn't work so it's back to the drawing board."

Despite the Shockers not getting too much action from the other offensive lines, there has been a handful of close calls, most notably is, Frankie Ortuso who has hit everything on the net except the mesh. Ortuso simply cannot buy a goal this season as he rang a one-timer off the post during last night's third period and has missed open nets by mere inches in other games. Once the slump is broken, watch for this guy's name to be plastered all over the scoresheet.

The Shockers' defense was exceptionly sleepy last night as there were several lapses in communication between the pairs which in turn led to Vendetta goals but Francois Hamelin does explain:

"We're figuring it out with each game. We just got to remind ourselves about the basics of hockey and we'll be solid."

Despite the breakdowns in the defensive zone from time to time, the defense team has been impressively partaking in some offensive work as well. Most notably last night was Greg "Lidstrom" Emmanuel, who, really did his nickname justice as he quarterbacked quite a few plays including two give-and-go's in one shift and really looked comfortable out on the blue lines. Despite sitting out for three straight seasons he has really made a impact-plenty comeback.

In the end, the Shockers were severely lucky to pull away with the win as they looked sluggish, unorganized and even lost the lead with 2:00 on the clock in the third. Chris Diabo fetched the knotting goal with a minute and some change and then Alain Godard put in the game winner in OT off a bad feed from Stevens just seconds after Capaz made a huge sprawling pad save.

Next week the Shockers will take on the first place Raging Bulls at 6:30pm.