There were more Squirrels at Thursday night’s game versus the Piranhas than you’d find at a bird feeder overflowing with seed, and Piranhas backup goalie Greg Mumma played the best game of his career through 22 minutes of play, but none of that could stop the Squirrels from improving to an incredible 15-1-0 with a 10-4 victory at the Patrick Rink.  “I think the goalie gave up after I ran him over and scored a goal”, said Squirrels ringer Mike Bronson after the game. “But that’s what you gotta do, crash the goalie.”  Bronson had a relatively quiet night scoring only 3 goals and assisting on 2 others.  When asked about the goal, a visibly upset and dazed Mumma said, “They said ‘your mamma’ after the goal- ha ha, real funny.”  However other players on the ice reported only hearing someone say “You OK Mumma?”  Mumma denied allegations that he was only there to once again prove that the Squirrels should be playing in the B league.

Things didn’t start out well for the Squirrels, who gave up the first goal of the game, then fell behind again early in the 2^nd period after relinquishing two quick goals within the first 2 minutes of the period.   Halfway through the 2^nd period though the Squirrels got things rolling as Bronson got physical with Mumma sparking the beginning of a Squirrels scoring spree.  The Squirrels netted the game’s next 6 goals and outscored the Piranhas 8-1 over the remainder of the game.  Six different players scored for the Squirrels during that stretch, illustrating what a true team effort the win was.  Piranhas scoring threat John Kucharski was a non-factor the 2^nd half of the game, being shut down by the Squirrels defense and goalie Eric Coulson.  “I thought we played a well disciplined game, controlling the puck and staying out of the penalty box,” said the Squirrels coach.

Game Details     3 Stars: 1st Star Mike Bronson   2nd Star Bob Valdes 3rd Star Greg Mumma

With only two full lines to start, the Squirrels out-hustled, outshot, and outscored the Piranhas on Sunday en route to an 8-0 victory. The Squirrels are now 7-0, in firm control of the division, but has yet to be tested against the three teams behind them in the standings.

Tony Richelsen and Chi Pham scored in the first period. Jon Magi, Ben Sumner and Chris Long scored in the second. Magi, Long, and Drew Thiemann, who played defense instead of goalie, scored in the third.

Charles Wolstein, Dan Carter, Paul Kobernick and Brent Machado also played for the Squirrels, who used a substitute goaltender, who got the 13-save shutout as the Squirrels put up 37 shots.

The Squirrels’ 5-1 victory against the Piranhas in Sunday’s opening game was only part of the story. The Squirrels got a glimpse of their future as the new guys – Mike Bronson and Dan Carter – combined for four assists on four of the goals, all while controlling much of the game.

Brent Machado scored the first goal of the season only 30 seconds into the game. Two minutes later, Tony Richelsen’s individual effort put the Squirrels up 2-0. The Piranhas struck back with a breakaway goal 13 minutes into the first period, but it was all Squirrels after that. Ben Sumner bounced the puck off the back of the goaltender to put the Squirrels up 3-1 before the end of the period. Matt Borlik scored the only goal of the second period and Sumner added his second of the game in the third period. Drew Thiemann made 14 saves in net as the Squirrels put up 25 goals.

Machado, Bronson, Carter, Sumner, Borlik, Thiemann, Tony Richelsen, Desi Richelsen, Charles Wolstein, Chris Long and Jon Magi played for the Squirrels.

The next game is Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 10 p.m. against Gnu.