KMC Eagles News


Tuesday, August 18th, 2015 - 1:10AM
Thorsten Cup 2015: Hard fought and down to the wire.

Eagles and Ice Arena after 2015 Thorsten Cup Finals

            The first game was against Bitburg and it was a tough one.  The Eagles started out slow and Bitburg took a 2-1 lead with about 3 minutes left.  The Eagles stepped up to pressure them and it paid off as Jimmy Koehler scored on a rebound goal from a Chris Lee snap shot– the game ended in a 2-2 tie.  The next game was against Team Sutter where the Eagles started to find their game and dominated them to a 4-0 win with most of the play being down in the opponents end.  The twins, Max and Marcel, along with Pavel Kovalchuk proved to be a solid 2nd line as they came through offensively.  And newcomer Brian Purcell tore up the ice from the get go leading the offense.  The Eagles would face the Canalianrats, a new team to the tournament, and immediately greeted them the same way they greeted Team Sutter, defeating the new comers 4-1; Peter Kallenbach got the start between the pipes and shined, making key stops during the game.  Hard working and impressive play from Justin Brubaker and Zach Johnson proved too much for Team Sutter in this one. 

            At this point, with the Eagles being 2-0-1, the real hockey was starting… there were 5 other teams in the same group as the Eagles and they had to finish in one of the top two spots to advance on to the semifinals!  Every game counts.  Next the Eagles face a fast an elusive team from Cologne, the Smilies.  The Eagles got the jump immediately from the drop of the puck and broke the Smilies down winning 2-0.  Solid goaltending from Ryan Wehrman solidified the Eagles victory, but that wasn’t anything new in their book.  The Eagles were 3-0-1 and had to win or tie to advance to the semifinals, if they lost it was over.  Essentially the final game in group play was the quarterfinals and it would be against the No Names which was undoubtedly the toughest team in the group… well at that point, but that was until the Eagles came out bombing and took a 3-0 lead early, but the No Names didn’t make it easy as they started coming back.  The Eagles held on and defeated the No Names 6-4 and finished first in their group with a 4-0-1 record, being undefeated.

            As the semifinal match was set up, the Eagles opposed the Schalker Sharks; another new team to the tournament.  The only thing the Eagles had to face was themselves and the referees.  There were a number of calls not going the Eagles way and it was hampering their play; one of their star players, Jimmy Koehler was thrown out of the game early on a very questionable call, another star player, Brandon Tudball and grinding forward Adam Henderson both couldn’t come through due to work obligations.  The Eagles were at a disadvantage, but they held strong as Coach Adam Sacchetti kept walking back and forth/up and down the bench telling everyone “to take one shift at a time, win each shift.”  Solid defense from Trevor Girard and jump from Chris Lee with the never let down play of Shane Saum led the Eagles to a 2-1 win and a trip to the Championship.

            The Championship match up would be quite interesting for the Eagles since they would be facing Ice Arena, whom beat the Eagles 1-0 in overtime while our boys were down to a 4 on 3 killing off a questionable penalty in the previous Thorsten Cup championship game in 2014.  That one was a tough loss for the Eagles, and unfortunately this one did not go any better.  Ice Arena got the jump on the Eagles and went up 2-0 early.  The Eagles did put up a fight and clawed their way back to make it 3-2 with Ice Arena still ahead, but Ice Arena popped one more in to take the finals 4-2.  The boys put up a good fight and fought continuously until the buzzer, but it just wasn’t enough that day.  A few calls by the refs going the other way and a little more jump may have changed the outcome but it was what it was – a great finals by every means.  The Eagles gave a great effort and finishing 2nd out of 12 is not that bad!  Great effort boys!  And great support from our fans in the stands.

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