Jokers Snag 3rd Straight Win, 8-7

The Jokers of Doom (3-4) won their third straight contest with a wild 8-7 win Monday night over the Vipers (4-2-1). The Jokers came into the game without leading goal Graig Romberg, who has 8 goals in 3 games played on the season. In his absence Alix Langlais and Jeremy Battye had big games to make up the deficit.

Amazingly, every period of the game would result in 3 goals for one team and two for the other. Luckily for the Jokers, they were on the plus side in the 2nd and 3rd periods. In the first period, the Vipers would strike first as Chad Huck would snap in his own rebound from between the circles. Langlais would then add a rebound tap in power play goal on a Huck tripping penalty and a minute later John Deluca would score an unassisted goal after a steal in the Vipers end and a deflected pass that went in off of a defenseman. Alas, the Vipers would add 2 more goals before the period would end to hold a 3-2 lead.

In the second the Jokers would score the first 3 goals of the period, Battye would nab 2 goals sandwiched around a goal by Ken Herren. The Vipers would fight back with 2 goals of their own by Stan Capp, tying the game at 5-5 heading to the 3rd.

In the 3rd period the Vipers would strike first with a goal before the Jokers would again erupt for 3 straight goals from Phil Elliott, John DeLuca, and Battye’s hat trick goal. The Jokers never like to have a 2 goal lead for long, so they quickly allowed a Viper goal with about 1:20 remaining to make it an 8-7 game, but hung on the rest of the way with several zone clearing shots to preserve the victory. The win puts the Jokers right in the thick of the playoff race with several teams vying for a few spots. They currently hold the final playoff spot in 6th place with 6 points with 3 games remaining.

Notes: Jokers were outshot 33-29… Goalie Matt Chapman evens his record at 2-2… Frank Melillo nets 3 assists in the game… Alix Langlais 1 goal and 2 assists… Battye also added an assist for a 4 point night… Herren/Elliott 1 goal 1 assist each… Jim Brunetti 2 assists… Rich Orsini 1 assist 1 penalty.