Summer
1998 Game Updates
Game 1
May 21st
Americans 7 Dead Wings 2
Season Record 1-0
Hey Goalie, Goalie,
Goalie...
(Sugar Land, TX) The
American/DeadWing season opener has become tradition, but few games
get as wild as this one. Even though last season's opener on January
14th resulted in the same 7-2 Americans win...this win was completely
different. Midway through the first period the Wings went up 1-0 on a
Shane
Kadlec goal, but Keith
Lerner answered for the Americans on
his first of three goals on the evening. The Americans were up 4-1
with about six minutes left in the second period when fireworks
started. Wings defenseman Charlie
Hong and Americans reserve goalie
Brien
Pierson went to battle resulting in
both players ejection from the game. While reserve-reserve goalie
Dave
Stiller strapped on the goal pads,
interim reserve-reserve-reserve goalie Ti
Shuman took the net and pitched a
100% save shutout. Stiller stepped between the pipes at the beginning
of the 3rd period and with no warmup put forth a Stiller, er STELLAR
performance. The Wings slipped one past Stiller to make it a 4-2 game
but after Dean
Hill was ejected from the game for
excessive holding, commentary and official abuse...the rout was on.
Marshall
Iler added the exclamation point
with :03 seconds remaining in the game to cap the 7-2 win. In
addition to Lerner's hat trick, Pete
Babine, Brendan
Hilton and Brian
Hughes contributed goals in the
game.
Game 2
May 27th
Panthers 7 Dead Americans 0
Season Record 1-1
Panthers BITE Americans
Again
(Sugar Land, TX) It was an
omen of things to come. Before the game Panthers Goalie
Bob
Emery (that's Dr.P.H.,CHP,CIH,CSP,RB
as well as PHD goalie) was wearing his lucky CAPS Cap in honor of his
hockey home boys. Once the puck was dropped, Dr. Bob did his finest
"Olie the Goalie" impersonation, stopping BOTH Americans shots on
goal and leading the Panthers to a 7-0 win. OK, maybe we had THREE
shots on goal. Whatever the tally, combine a lackluster American
performance, some creative officiating, mix in a slush puppy ice
surface and the result is a Panthers win. For a summary of American
highlights, click
here!
Game 3
June 3rd
Americans 8 Black Stars 2
Season Record 2-1
Black Day For Black
Stars
(Sugar Land, TX) After last
weeks embarrassing loss to the Panthers, the Americans were ready to
pass along a "L" to someone else. The Expansion "Black Stars" just
happened to be next on the schedule. After pulling away to a 4-0
lead, the Stars pulled within two at 4-2 midway through the second
period. The Americans tightened things up and scored four straight
goals, taking an 8-2 win. Three players scored two goals each for the
Americans. Veseleny
(2), Iler
(3) and Babine
(3). Madden
(1) and Shuman
(1) added one each. A strong goal performance by Brien
Pierson, fresh after returning from
his boxing suspension, aided in the Americans second win of the
season.
Game 4
June 10th
Americans 5 Hurricanes 4 (OT)
Season Record 3-1
Return Of
Yeastboy
(DriveBy, TX) It was the long
awaited return of American goalie Mark
Yocum who just returned from several
weeks playing for the Chinese national team. Sporting a new hairdo by
Black and Decker, Yocum was ready to answer
the call for his first start of the
season. After his traditional pregame
head job, Mark proclaimed "I'm
ready, baby...bring 'em on". Well, he was ALMOST ready. The
Hurricanes got up early 1-0, but Tim
Madden's second goal of the season
tied things up 1-1. The Hurricanes moved back in front 2-1 but
Babine
(4) wristed one past the goalie to make it 2-2. The Americans pulled
ahead 3-2 on a goal from Rod
Fenwick (1) off a Ken
Veseleny pass. Moments later the
Hurricanes tied things up with Marty McSorley's second goal for the
'Canes. Geoff
Hodge took a break from the penalty
box to put the Americans ahead 4-3 on his first goal of the season.
Late in the game the Hurricanes tied things at 4 all to send the game
into a 5 minute sudden death OT period. Earlier in the game Fenwick
had scored on a Veseleny assist. Now it was time to return the favor.
Halfway through the OT Veseleny punched in his third goal of the
season, giving the Americans their third win in four games.
Game 5
June 17th
Americans 2 Blackhawks 2
Season Record 3-1-1
Tie Me Up With Your Tie
Ti?
(SugarLand, TX) They say a
tie is like kissing your sister.
In this case, it was like kissing your cousin as the Americans met
their former Blues team mates (now skating as Blackhawks) but
couldn't decide a winner after three periods and an OT. The first
period was all Americans as Pete
Babine (4) scored on a
Tim
Madden assist. Late in the first
O'Neill
assisted on Ken
Veseleny's fourth goal of the season
to put the Americans up 2-0. The second period was all
Gene
Pruse for the Blackhawks. Gene Gene
the Scorin' Machine scored both goals to tie the game at 2 all. While
both teams had chances in the third, the goalies won sending the
Americans to OT for the second week in a row. With 2 minutes gone in
OT the Blackhawks won a faceoff in the Americans zone and sent a long
pass across to Brian
Messier who let loose a shot from
the point that Americans goalie Mark
Yocum stopped at the side of the
post. With just :14 second left in the OT period the Americans had a
two on one that ended with a clang as the puck hit the post. After a
scuffle that sent Veseleny and Pruse to the sin bin, the horn sounded
ending the game and signaling the beginning of the post game barley
tasting. After two OT's in a row the Americans need to pick up the
pace next week as they face the Roughnecks and their hot goalie
Al
Belanger who defeated the league
leading Panthers this week 2-1.
Game 6
June 24th
Roughnecks 7 Americans 2
Season Record 3-2-1
Search Party Issued for
Americans M.I.A.
(SugarLand, TX) For the first
time in league history there were more fans in the crowd than players
on the Americans bench. Seto's Seals, the team that bounced the
Americans from last playoffs were reborn as Roughnecks. There was
enough motivation for the Americans players. But were there enough
players? When the puck dropped only three reserves sat on the
Americans bench. It would be a long night. Even shorthanded, the
Americans held the Roughnecks to just two goals in the first period.
Things looked a little more bleak at the end of the second when the
Americans trailed 4-0. But, with nine minutes remaining in the game
Brendan
Hilton top shelfed his second goal
of the season, assisted by Veseleny
and Babine
to make it 4-1. Less than a minute later Keith
Lerner (4) scored to bring the
Americans within two. When it seemed like there was light at the end
of the tunnel, it was actually the light behind the net as the
Roughnecks scored three goals in the last eight minutes to send an
exhausted Americans team to the locker room with their second loss of
the season. (Note to all Americans Missing In Action: We'll be
looking for notes from your mothers next week!)
Game 7
July 1
Americans 2 North Stars 1
Season Record 4-2-1
Americans Edge Stars
2-1
(Shithole Ice Arena, TX) Joel
Petty stepped between the pipes and in Namath-like fashion predicted
a win for the Stars over his ex-team mates on the Americans. But it
was not to be. After a scoreless first period, Jim
O'Neill (1) took an tape to tape
pass from Tim
Madden and backhanded it past Petty
to put the Americans up 1-0. Later in the second period
Keith
Lerner scored his fifth goal of the
season and what would become the game winner. First star of the game
goes to Joel Petty for calling his shot. Since leaving the Americans
Petty has had consistently good games against his former
team...should these teams meet in the playoffs we'll look for another
bold prediction from Petty.
Game 8
July 8th
Hooters 2 Americans 0
Season Record 4-3-1
Hooters Nip
Americans
(Slushee Ice Arena, TX)
If you can't say anything good...don't say anything at all. See
you next week!
Game 9
July 15th
Americans 2 Dead Wings 0
Season Record 5-3-1
Americans Shut out Dead
Wings
(Cricket Land, TX) Last time
the Americans and Dead Wings met was in the penalty filled season
opener with backup goaltender Brien
Pierson getting ejected from the
game. This time Brien managed to stay in net the whole game and pitch
a shutout as the Americans completed the season sweep of the Dead
Wings. In the first meeting Keith
Lerner scored a hat trick, this time
he scored the only goal the Americans needed, deflecting a
Brendan
Hilton shot past Dead Wings goalie
Jessie Bell at 5:05 of the first period. Ti
Shuman scored his second goal of the
season with 5 minutes gone in the second period. Prodigal defenseman
Brian
Hughes (who looked in remarkably
good shape after his three weeks on the French Rivera) and the rest
of the Americans defense clamped down on the Wings to lock up win #5
on the season. First star of the game goes to Tim
Madden who made the all important
beer run after the game.
Game 10
July 22nd
Americans 1 Panthers 1 OT
Season Record 5-3-2
Battle of the (missing)
Benches
(Sugar Land, TX) When the
Americans and Panthers met in Game 2 this season it was a 7-0 ass
kicking by the Panthers. This time, with both teams combining for
just five reserve players on the bench, it was evident the players
asses would be dragging at games end. For two periods the game was
scoreless. Midway through the third Keith
Lerner and Pete
Babine teamed up for a nice play to
put the Americans up 1-0 on Lerner's seventh goal of the season. The
Panthers goalie Bob
Emery turned back several excellent
Americans chances as did Mark
Yocum for the Americans. Just when
it looked as if the Americans would roll up win #6 on the season the
Panthers tied the game with just over a minute remaining. In the OT
period oxygen and Bud Lite was brought to the benches to revitalize
the players. But as they had done for most of the game, both goalies
held tough and in the end it was time to kiss the sis. A first star
to each goalie.
Game 11
July 29th
Americans 10 Maple Leafs 4
Season Record 6-3-2
Babine Bids Frame
Farewell
(Sugar Land, TX) Anyone who's
played hockey in Houston has at some point run across the legendary
Jimmy
Frame. Jimmy is a part of the
storied Americans history. When the team played as Carrabbas, Jimmy
wore the "D" jersey proudly. Playing his last game in Houston, with
his family in the stands, it was evident that Jimmy wanted to go out
on top. Less than a minute was gone in the game when Frame blistered
a shot top shelf past Mark
Yocum to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
Before five minutes were gone it looked like the Leafs had things
under control with a 2-0 lead. Apparently it takes about seven
minutes for Power Bars to kick in, because that's when
Pete
Babine caught fire. In the next five
minutes Pete scored three consecutive goals to give the Americans a
3-2 lead. The floodgates then opened up with goals coming from
Keith
Lerner (8), Geoff
Hodge (2), Tim
Madden (4) and three more from
Babine to complete his double hat-trick and team leading ten goals on
the season. Jimmy Frame tallied three of the four Leafs goals on the
night to finish his Houston hockey career with a hat-trick of his
own. "Piling on" award goes to Marshall
Iler (4) who scored with just :06
left in the game to give the Americans their highest point total of
the season.
Game 12
Summer Semi-Finals
August 5th
Americans 4 Panthers 3
Season Record 7-3-2
Finally!
(Sugar Land, TX) The rivalry
between the Panthers and the Americans goes back to the Americans
days as the Carrabbas Panthers. In fact if the faux Panthers hadn't
come into the league wearing Carrabbas jerseys, the Americans would
still be Carrabbas. The worst part of the rivalry was not only did
the Panthers "steal" the jerseys, they also had become a team the
Americans just could not get a win against. In their two meetings
this season the Panthers won 7-0 and pulled out a tie with a goal in
the last minute of play just two weeks ago. This playoff game was to
was to be another nail biter. The Americans scored first as
Brendan
Hilton (3) blew the puck past
Bob
Emery midway through the first. With
5 minutes gone in the second period the Panthers picked off an errant
Americans pass and scored on a breakaway. Pete
Babine put the Americans up 2-1 on a
pass from Ti
Shuman. The Panthers outskated the
Americans in the second scoring two more goals to take a 3-2 lead at
the end of the second period. The Panthers held their lead through
most of the 3rd period. With three minutes left Brendan
Hilton sidestepped a sliding
defenseman and tied the game 3-3. After the Panthers robbed the
Americans of a win with a last minute goal two weeks ago, it was time
to return the favor. With just 34 seconds remaining Pete
Babine's goal gave the Americans a
4-3 win and a their first trip to the playoffs in recent memory.
Game 13
Summer Finals
August 12th
Hooters 2 Americans 0
Season Record 7-4-2
Nice
Hooters!
(Sugar Land, TX) A
disappointing end to an well played summer season, the Americans
picked a bad time to have a power outage. Virtually every player on
the team had opportunities to put the much loved Americans on the
board but the Hooters Sumo Goalie was in place to stop every shot.
The Americans did win the parking lot party trophy as the victorious
Hooters team left after what was one of the shortest championship
celebrations in league history. Hopefully this isn't a trend for new
teams coming into the league. Or, they may have simply been
disappointed to find that no trophies were awarded for the summer
session. For a complete game recap from the Hooters perspective,
click their link http://www.dollar-express.com/Hooters/HTeam_Home.html
Next Game: HHA Fall Season begins 10/9/98. Keep your sticks on the ice! And as our Coach Red Greene says, "Men, if you can't be handsome...be HANDY!"
