Team ML 7 vs. MDHL All-Stars 6
MDHL loses a heartbreaker in a spirited affair…
Saturday, May 31, 2003

And so the third ever tilt between these two squads took place, this time on Team ML's turf and their rules too! Gone was the red line making for two-line passes abound as well as a "play til the ice man cometh" mentality making for a high octane effort from both sides. Unlike the last game which Team ML had to climb back from a monstrous lead, this time they drew first blood and kept up the pressure all night long. Both rosters had their A-list players on tap, along with MDHL alumni-sub Ray "just keeping my nose to the grindstone and doin' my job" Chow to help bolster an all-Chevron lineup between ex-CCL members, Stan Quan and Jason Lai. And it was Chow who contributed early on with a short-handed marker on a sweet top-shelf backhander against ML goalie Samson "hey, being an ex-MDHLer doesn't mean we can't be friends" Chow.

Nevertheless, the game exchanged leads early on but it was Team ML coming back from a 4-2 deficit, powered by the tying and go-ahead goals by F Ed "if Jason attests to my yearly improvement I know I've arrived!" Ko on the same shift! As the game wore on, the game's chippy side began to rear its ugly head as ML skater known as "Big Tony" was getting under the skin of many an MDHLer and breaking the focus on the bench. Guest referee Richard "to be impartial, I know jerks on both these teams" Chang didn't crack down, but incidentally, did call the game's only penalty on his own brother-in-law. And so the ML goals included some hard work and a bit of puck luck as they scored off a clean deflection off MDHL D Ron "hey weird, my stick acts just like a ramp to the net" Pong's stick. To counter that, MDHL also had their own flukes on the 6-6 tying goal as Anthony "I think I got Samson figured out!" Chang shoots high over the net, off the glass, and off goaltender Chow's back and into the net!

However, in the late stages on more hard work and a turnover, Team ML capitalized and held on with some help from the botched use of the time clock to throw off the flow for both teams (which gives some sort of assist to netminder-turned-timekeeper, Kelvin "my sinsiter plot worked!" Ho we surmise). Ironically, a key member of the "M" in Team ML, Michael "nah, I'd rather be in Whistler than playing you losers" Ng was absent for his team's first taste of exhibition victory against the 'Dogs!

Game's 3 Stars:

3. Ray Chow... one of the MDHL's best players, and oddly, not even a f/t member.
2. Samson Chow... gets the win against his old league and vindication for the first game's loss.
1. Ed Ko... the emergence of a new power forward and nets two key goals to pace the victory.