Ashley’s Ruination overcame seven first period penalties to beat the upstart Black Ops 5-4 in a thrilling comeback Saturday night at Varsity Rink. The Ruination jumped out to an early lead with goals from Josh Pohlman and defenseman Kevin Dillen, but Ops quickly answered, tying the game up to end the first.
Sean McGrath put Ashley’s back on top before Ops took a 4-3 lead to end the second. In the third, center Joel Benton tied the game up at the 14:02, and took the lead with less than seven minutes left. Rusty Barron, who appeared a bit shaken early, stiffened in the third, stopping all shots.
“I saw Mark (Woods) get taken into the boards with no call, and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s going to be one of those games,'” said Barron.
The game proved to be physical, with 20 penalties handed out to both teams, totaling 67 minutes. While Ashley’s seemed to get the bulk of them (12 total), Black Ops made critical errors down the stretch, taking five penalties in the third period, allowing the Ruination to retake and hold the lead. “See you next season,” said Kevin Dillen to Ops’ Number 7, who was tossed from the game.
“Close the (bleeping) door!” he added.
Ruination will face top-seeded Goon Squad in Tuesday’s championship. They will have to do it without defenseman Mark Woods, who despite his two assists for the night, was part of a surprise trade, being dealt to a team in Florida (the Fort Walton Beach Woods Family) for a bag of pucks and two tickets to a forthcoming Wayne Newton concert.
When told that the bag of pucks would not arrive before Tuesday and that the tickets were in fact for Starland Vocal Band, the trade was nullified. “Starland Vocal Band?!” exclaimed Homer Simpson. “But, they suck!”
Though he will return next season, Woods claimed he already bought the ticket, reportedly not with Southwest. “I already bought the ticket, but not with Southwest,” he said. “So, I don’t want to get hit up with unexpected change fees and fall into a vat of foam like in the commercials.”
“I watch a lot of TV,” Woods explained.