Squirrels 7, Cruisers 2

As usual, it was a close first period Wednesday, and then the Squirrels ran away with a 7-2 victory against the Cruisers.

Dan Carter got the scoring started for the Squirrels with a slap shot from the point on a power play at 6:33 of the first period. Ben Sumner knocked in a rebound about a minute later to put the Squirrels up 2-0. With nine seconds remaining in the period, the Squirrels lost a face-off in the defensive zone, and the Cruisers showed flashes of good passing and put the puck in the net past Drew Thiemann.

Then the second period started, and it was all Squirrels. Matt Borlik Chris Wautel, and Sumner scored. The Squirrels took consecutive too many men bench minors at the end of the second period and at the beginning of the third, but killed off the penalties. Greg Wenograd scored at 6:46 of the third period before the Cruisers scored on a back-door pass to cut the lead to 6-2. Tony Richelsen added the seventh goal.

Carter and the Cruisers’ Andy Gardner got into a fight with about two minutes remaining in the game, with Gardner throwing punches. The referees, however, called both players with two roughing minors each.

Sumner, Carter, Wenograd, Borlik, Wautel, Thiemann, Chris Long, Tony and Desi Richelsen, Chi Pham, Brent Machado, Paul Kobernick, Rob Myers and Jon Magi played for the Squirrels, who outshot the Cruisers 36-17.