Road Warriors tap out in summer hockey
Aug. 30, 2016
Like a wrestling duo written out of the script early, the aptly named Road Warriors from the AHA’s summer league tradition of naming teams with a specific theme (wrestling duos) were on the ring ropes consistently this summer. For a fourth consecutive summer, the Spiders and Wingmen teamed up for the AHA summer league, competing at L4 (C2-equivalent).
After a strong start in June, going 4–1 to start out the season, the Road Warriors tried to tag team, and instead permanently vacated the ring. For the remainder of the season, the team managed just one single standings point via a tie against the Highlanders. Otherwise, it was not-so-impressive 0–6–1 streak, finishing the regular season at 4–7–1, in 5th place out of 6.
In the single-elimination playoff format, the Road Warriors faced the now-familiar Demolition, the team that set the record in shots against for any Spiders-related team, with a 62–12 drubbing in July. While the Road Warriors played their best hockey in months, the 4–2 deficit was too much to overcome. Even a penalty shot couldn’t solve the Demolition goaltending offered by last summer season’s Malibus netminder Brian Silus. Pulling the goalie with two+ minutes to go to give the Demolition two freebies, the final score was 6–2, prompting the Road Warriors to quickly exit the Richfield arena for post-elimination beers.
If it’s any consolation, those Demolition ran rest of the playoff board to take home the summer hardware.
In the regular season stat leaderboards, the Road Warriors managed to make appearances mostly in the PIM category:
-
Points leaders
- Brett Billmeyer (22; tied for 3rd place)
-
Goals leaders
- Brett Billmeyer (11; tied for 3rd place)
-
Assists leaders
- Brett Billmeyer (11; 3rd place)
-
PIM leaders
- Dave Sommerness (35; 1st place)
- Brett Billmeyer (28; 2nd place)
-
Goaltending
And goaltender Bill McCormick finished with the TOP goals allowed, at 66, thanks to the porous defense in front of him.
In all, a fun summer, and a great way to beat the heat, even if the humidity occasionally led to clouds forming inside the rink.
Season recap
Standings
| GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 49 | 77 | 111 |
| Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasty Boys | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 65 | 39 | 46 |
| Dream Team | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 57 | 29 | 92 |
| Lightning Express | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 49 | 62 | 62 |
| Demolition | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 52 | 51 | 88 |
| Road Warriors | 12 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 46 | 71 | 119 |
| Highlanders | 12 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 40 | 57 | 100 |
Post-season
| Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| * Level 4 champion | ||||||||||
| Demolition (4)* | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 16 | +8 |
| Highlanders (6) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 18 | +6 |
| Dream Team (2) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 15 | -3 |
| Nasty Boys (1) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -1 |
| Road Warriors (5) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | -4 |
| Lightning Express (3) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 | -6 |
Scoreboard
| Date | Time (CT) | Arena | Home | Result (Home) | Away | Result (Away) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue., Jun. 7, 2016 | 7:00 p.m. | Woog 2 | Road Warriors | 5 | Lightning Express | 2 |
| Wed., Jun. 15, 2016 | 7:15 p.m. | Minnetonka A | Nasty Boys | 6 | Road Warriors | 7 |
| Sun., Jun. 19, 2016 | 7:30 p.m. | Richfield 2 | Dream Team | 7 | Road Warriors | 1 |
| Wed., Jun. 29, 2016 | 7:30 p.m. | Richfield 2 | Road Warriors | 4 | Demolition | 1 |
| Thu., Jul. 7, 2016 | 7:30 p.m. | Highland N | Highlanders | 3 | Road Warriors | 10 |
| Sun., Jul. 10, 2016 | 5:45 p.m. | SLP W | Lightning Express | 6 | Road Warriors | 2 |
| Thu., Jul. 14, 2016 | 6:50 p.m. | Braemar E | Road Warriors | 4 | Nasty Boys | 7 |
| Sun., Jul. 17, 2016 | 7:30 p.m. | SLP W | Road Warriors | 2 | Dream Team | 7 |
| Sun., Jul. 24, 2016 | 9:30 p.m. | Richfield 1 | Demolition | 8 | Road Warriors | 2 |
| Tue., Aug. 2, 2016 | 9:00 p.m. | Richfield 2 | Road Warriors | 4 | Highlanders | 4 OT |
| Sun., Aug. 7, 2016 | 6:15 p.m. | Richfield 1 | Road Warriors | 4 | Lightning Express | 9 |
| Wed., Aug. 10, 2016 | 9:30 p.m. | SLP W | Nasty Boys | 11 | Road Warriors | 1 |
| Date | Time (CT) | Arena | Home | Result (Home) | Away | Result (Away) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Aug. 14, 2016 | 7:30 p.m. | Richfield 2 | Demolition | 6 | Road Warriors | 2 |
Stats
| # | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | P | PP | SH | GWG | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||
| 71 | Billmeyer, B. | C | 12 | 13 | 9 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 28 |
| 25 | Sommerness, D. | C | 9 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| 2 | Moore, P. | C | 9 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | Melander, S. | W | 11 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 11 | Pappone, J. | D, RW | 10 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 | Farner, G. | LW, D | 12 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 88 | Kato, M. (A) | RW | 10 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | Johnson, M. | C, RW | 10 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | Schuster, D. | LW | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Litton, J. (C) | D | 9 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 91 | Fritz, R. | D, W | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 14 | Droullard, R. | D, RW | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 23 | Schroeder, M. (A) | D, W | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 30 | McCormick, B. | G | 12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Herzig, C. | D | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 66 | Bullock, T. | LW | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 12 | Sutton, B. | D | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 0 | Flesher, S. (SG) | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals: | 13 | 49 | 65 | 114 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 111 | ||
| # | Goalie | GP | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | W | L | T | OTL | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Note: GA, GAA and Shots totals include 2 empty-net goals, which are not charged to a goalkeeper. |
|||||||||||
| 30 | McCormick, B. | 12 | 66 | 5.50 | 422 | 0.844 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| SG | Flesher, S. (SG) | 1 | 9 | 9.00 | 43 | 0.791 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals: | 13 | 77 | 5.92 | 467 | 0.835 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
