Team MDHL 9 vs. Hao's Heroes 9
Thursday, March 28, 2002

And for the second consecutive week, the MDHL put their exhibition winning streak on the line, this time against Hao's Heroes and his merry band of all-stars. Hot off a convincing win from last week, the Mad Dogs were feeling confident in the pre-game led under a new captaincy tandem of Stan Quan and Anthony Chang.

Shockingly though, it was Hao's team that came out storming and jumping to an early lead. It was a solid strategy against the 'Dogs as Hao's team was skilled and gritty in their relentless efforts to gain puck control and make the most of their chances. The MDHL were on the ropes as the game progressed and it became clear that any puck luck was not working in their favour. Missed passes, turnovers, mishandling, and lost assignments were the story and playing from behind over the game's duration was the result.

On the officiating note, Sherman Woo debuted his black-and-white stripes in this exhibition outing and as a strong supporter of the two-referee system, Sherm found himself fending solo when his would-be second ref, Gon Yip, unexpectedly went AWOL on game day. "You're on your own sucker... er, I mean, buddy!" was the last heard quote from Gon's lips and much to the chagrin of some players, the ref's workload (or eyeballs) were taxed all night long as Hao's Heroes exploited the two-liner rule on a few occasions. The latter prompting a rare but extremely colorful reaction from D Ian Melhado, who cried "Serenity now!" in Seinfeld-ism fashion and declared a 'Miller Time' break in mid-shift.

Otherwise, it was more by-the-book officiating and the special teams were back in action. MDHL D Sean Oye ends up in the sin bin for the second time in as many games, proving he's either a gritty D-man doing his job, or he's auditioning to be the fourth Hansen brother. As such, the MDHL had collectively dug their own hole as no player put forth any decidedly solid and complete effort.

Their saving grace, however, came in the form of a few timely and productive shifts from snipers Anthony Chang and Chris Archibald, with Chang converting two quick goals on the same shift, and Archibald netting the game-tying goal with no time left on the clock, thanks to a sweet setup by Chang to save the day and the MDHL undefeated streak! Hoo-ah!