Grand Rapids, MI- The first of 3 tournaments in the CILL was held this past weekend at the Edge Ice Arena in Holland, MI. The Grand Rapids Dragonfish (2-1) hosted the Chicago Outlaws(3-0), Pittsburgh Octane(0-2), and Detroit Coney Dogs(0-2).
The first game for the weekend was not much of a game, the Chicago Outlaws took care of the Detroit Coney Dogs in very quick fashion. Before you could look up it was 10-0 at the end of the first quarter. Chicago kept pouring it on and the game ended with a heavily lopsided score, Chicago 39 Detroit 2. The Coney Dogs showed up with very low numbers and it did not look good from the start. “I had a feeling that it was going to be a long weekend for the boys from Detroit, I hope that things can improve for those guys, it is a long season” –Grand Rapids GM and CILL Commissioner Russ King.
The second game was a much better one, featuring the Pittsburgh Octane vs Grand Rapids Dragonfish. Last year the Fish beat up on Pittsburgh when they came to town, this year was to be different. The game started off slow with neither team putting the ball in the net for at least the first ten minutes. Pittsburgh got on the board first but then was answered by a goal from Justin Hawksbee. Then it was back and forth in to the third quarter, when the Dragonfish started to slowly pull away not looking back. The final was 16-8. Nick Ruff lead the Octane at the faceoff X and put a couple goals on the board for Pittsburgh while Tyler Harris and new addition Justin Hawksbee led the way for the Dragonfish in front of great goalie play by Dave Holding.
“Pittsburgh is a different team this year, they have a new look and play a much more solid game up and down the floor, and they have guys that can rip shots.” Dave Holding, Dragonfish goalie.
The third game was Sunday morning featuring Chicago and Pittsburgh. The game was a back and forth battle, all aspects of the game were pretty even. Towards the end of the game is when you could tell that Pittsburgh could have used the extra guys that they had been missing for this game, they were running out of gas. The laid it all out on the floor behind excellent goaltending from both their goalies who split time all weekend. It was an other great CILL game to watch! Chicago ended up walking away with the W 19-15
The last game of the weekend featured in state rivals Detroit vs Grand Rapids. The Dragonfish were not sure how this game was going to go, until they saw the same numbers that had shown up for the Chicago game. GR then realized they had to do what they had to do to not get any injuries and play a full game up and down the floor, and The Fish were able to use the game to work on things that have been lacking in the previous 2 games, that led to a 37-7 victory.
Next games…
Pittsburgh @ Columbus Saturday 8/17 2pm
Colorado @ Chicago Friday August 23rd 7:30CST Sears Centre
Grand Rapids vs Colorado Saturday August 24th 4pm Sears Centre
Milwaukee @ Chicago Saturday August 24th 7pm Sears Centre
Columbus @ Detroit Saturday August 24th
Colorado vs Milwaukee Sunday August 25th 1pm Sears Centre
