Plague Team Felt Under The Weather

Plague loses 8-4 to Baldwin-Wallace

The Plague had a rough weekend, losing to Baldwin-Wallace 8-4 at home in an extremely physical game. The loss takes the Plague's record down to 1-2.

"The play was very 'chippy,'" senior James Kenlar said.

The Plague came out a little bit slower than Baldwin-Wallace and it hurt them. Oberlin didn't match Baldwin-Wallace in shots until the third period but by then it was too late. The 23 penalties were a valid testament to the physical nature of the game.

The Plague's shot that glanced off the bar of the goal was a misleading sign. Soon afterward, Baldwin-Wallace began to dominate, coming back on a quick attack and scoring, but the goal was disallowed due to a penalty.

After two successive penalties by Oberlin, Baldwin-Wallace managed to score their first goal on a power play.

Baldwin-Wallace continued dominating the play. They forced two quick breakaways, but Oberlin's goalie junior John Breskey managed to keep the puck out of the goal.

Oberlin continued to stagger with a missed shot and a turnover.

Finally sophomore Matt Iorio managed to get the Plague on the scoreboard. Oberlin might have continued scoring but Baldwin-Wallace broke up play with a trip in front of the net.

Baldwin-Wallace managed another breakaway, and Brensky came out of another one-on-one situation on top to take Oberlin to the first break tied 1-1. The score was tied, but Baldwin-Wallace had controlled the play.

In the second period, Baldwin-Wallace came off the line strong again.

Early on, Brensky called for an icing call, but because of some confusion on the part of the referee it was not called. Baldwin-Wallace took advantage of the confusion and put the puck into the net to start off a flurry of goals.

Baldwin-Wallace returned with another quick goal with a far shot that managed to find its way into the top corner of the net to take Baldwin-Wallace up 3-1.

Less than thirty seconds later senior Evan Kelly managed to beat the puck past a couple defenders and the goalie for the score.

Baldwin-Wallace came back within fifteen seconds to put yet another goal in the net.

Later, Brensky made a save only to be pushed by a Baldwin-Wallace player. The resulting fight ended up with three players from each team in the box.

"They messed with our keeper, and that's just not something you do," Iorio said. "It was a just fight for our side."

Tensions stayed high and a few moments later another fight broke out. This one resulted in two Oberlin players and three Baldwin-Wallace players going to the box. The six players from the earlier fight were all still there. At this point Baldwin-Wallace had six players in the box and only three on their bench.

Taking advantage of the resulting power play Iorio managed to put another goal in the net.

But with two minutes left to play in the second period, Baldwin-Wallace managed to score another goal off a cross pass.

Baldwin-Wallace came out aggressive again in the third period, preventing another possible Oberlin goal with a penalty in front of the net.

Besides a couple of penalties the first 10 minutes of the period were pretty uneventful. Finally, Baldwin-Wallace managed to put another shot past the keeper. The Plague co-captain junior Kert Heinecke was able to score a goal with the assist from Iorio.

"Every game I've felt stronger on the ice, and I think I owe it to the Plague to reliably get points," Iorio said.

Then Oberlin got what would turn out to be unfortunate penalty as Baldwin-Wallace went on to score another goal.

The last goal of the game was scored by a somewhat small player on the Baldwin-Wallace team that had troubled the Plague all night. He was by far the fastest player on the ice, and no one from Oberlin could manage to get a body on him. For the last goal he took the puck single handedly from the defensive end past several Yeomen to put it in the net. His skill highlighted the inexperience of the Plague.

"The team played hard. We just need experience," Iorio said. "Only a few guys have the ability to be in the right place at the right time."

The Plague will take the opportunity of the long break to practice some of the basics so they can come out strong against Wittenberg in February.