Ashley’s Ruination (6-2-1) won their fourth in a row and their first road win Saturday night 7-4 against the Cleveland Steamers. Rolling to a 3-0 lead after the first period, the team let Cleveland back with three quick goals in less than three minutes. Sean McGrath took the lead back late in the second, only to have the Steamers respond early in the third.
Defenseman Jason Spence responded with his second goal of the game mid-way through the third to take the lead back for good. McGrath and forward Nate Greenman added two more goals to put the game away.
Paul Sholtis, standing in at net, shook off a few tough goals to secure the win. “I played like (bleep),” said a modest Sholtis.
“(Paul) played well,” said defenseman Mark Woods. “He made some great saves.”
“Yep,” McGrath agreed. “Except for the bad ones he let in.”
“And the bad ones he almost let in,” added McGrath.
Sholtis took the good-natured razzing from teammates with aplomb, knowing that he had won his second game that evening. He also knew that regular netminder Rusty “New Daddy” Barron was losing sleep– 31 straight hours and counting when contacted– though it was not determined if it was concern over Sholtis’ bid to become the starting goalie or the fact that Barron’s wife gave birth to baby Isabelle at 430am Saturday morning.