Sundogs Shutout Chill In First Of Two Games In St. Charles

Robby Moss stops one of 24 shots he faced tonight against the Sundogs – Photo Credit : Mick Lite

The St. Charles Chill battled hard for head coach Jamie Rivers tonight but came up just short, losing 1-0, to the Arizona Sundogs. Arizona’s goalie, Andrew Engelage stopped 32 shot in his shutout victory.

“It was a game for us to win. We played well but didn’t win. That’s the story right now.” Rivers said after the game. The Chill outshot Arizona 32-24 and dominated the puck play, pretty much from start to finish. Anthony Perdicaro (6) and Steve Makway (4), lead the Chill in shots on goal. They were continuously funneling pucks to the net and getting scoring  chances. The effort was certainly there.

No question, Rivers was impressed with the club’s effort in tonight’s game. “I think we’ve gotten way more effort, way more buy in. We’re not giving up as many scoring chances, we’re not giving up as many shots on goal. We’re doing a lot of things right, but one thing we have to get right is our powerplay. Guys are over-thinking, over-trying, and fancying it up. We need to bear down, get two passes then a shot on net, bang away and get an ugly one. Lets get our confidence up, then we can get a little bit adventurous.”

The Chill went 0-for-5 tonight with the extra man and with a powerplay late in the game, they failed to capitalize to tie the game. They did a lot of things right tonight, including keeping most of the Sundogs play, to the outside. They battled hard and were physically dominant. Anthony Pisano, Tyler Barr, and Jordan Fox were throwing hit after hit when they had the opportunity, but the hit of the game came from Tony DeHart, who stepped up in open ice and obliterated Sebastian Geoffrion. Geoffrion was woozy getting up, likely having the wind knocked out of him on the hit.

Robby Moss was easily the player of the game for the Chill. Rivers was impressed with his play this evening. “I loved it. He’s been great all year. He comes in and he’s rock solid. He works his butt off and he’s playing great.

The only goal of the game, came on the powerplay at the 13:21 mark of the third period for the Sundogs. Garrett Clarke just threw the puck towards the net, and somehow, it found it’s way past all the bodies in front and just got by Moss, who stopped 23-of-24 in tonight’s loss. It was obvious Moss didn’t pick it up until it was too late and even said so after the game. “I didn’t see it until it pretty much went by me. I saw it at the very last second and by that point, I couldn’t make the save.”

Moss touched on his game and the game of his teammates in tonight’s loss. “I felt good. I felt like as a team we played well. I thought, as a team defensively, it’s really night and day from the beginning of the season. I think we’re working the kinks out.”

Chill forward, Sean Muncy, is having a tough time early on this season. After playing only two games, he was injured earlier this year. He returned tonight, but his return was short lived. He was hit in the face with a puck and lost a few teeth, according to Rivers. He was feeling dizzy as well and he will not be playing in tomorrows game against these same Sundogs.

The Chill will battle the Sundogs again tomorrow night at the Family Arena in hopes of bouncing back and getting the victory on home ice.

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