BERRELLI!

The 2-4 Jokers of Doom came into last night’s contest with the 3-3 Tomahawks needing to win once again to keep any playoff hopes alive. The Jokers were up for the task and wasted no time jumping ahead just 24 seconds into the first period as captain Jim Brunetti picked up a loose ball behind the net and flipped it home while the Tomahawks goalie was still on the other side of the net during a scramble. In a closely contested first period, the Tomahawks would tie it midway through the first on a Jesse Tanguay blast. In the second period, the Jokers would retake the lead on a crazy fluke goal by Rich Orsini. He picked up a loose ball on his side of the red line and blasted it into the zone in order to set up a dump and chase situation but the ball would ricochet off of an unsuspecting Tomahawk defender and past the stunned goalie before he could react. It appeared the second period would end with a 2-1 lead but with just seconds left Ken Herren knocked down a clearing attempt with his hand and blasted a shot glove side low to provide a two goal advantage heading to the final period. In the 3rd, the Tomahawks clawed their way back into the game eventually tying it 4-4 on another Tanguay goal at 4:36. However with 2:11 left in the game leading scorer Josh Berrelli would knock home the game winning goal with assists from Orsini and John Deluca. The 5-4 win puts the Jokers into a 4th place tie with the Tomahawks and only a 1/2 game behind the 3rd place 3-4-1 Hurricanes. The Jokers final two games are against the 6th place 2-2-2 Vikings and the 1-5 Yellow Jackets, very winnable games as they make a final push to appear in the playoffs.

Notes: Orsini’s penalty free game streak has reached 7 games… Jokers had 5 different goal scorers (Brunetti, Orsini, Herren, Melillo, and Berrelli)… Chris Dickinson picked up his first point of the season assisting on Melillo’s second period goal… Fernando Gomez started in place of Tim Fisher and notched 22 saves… Berrelli leads the team in points and PIM.