The game got off on a less-than-ideal note, as about 3 1/2 minutes into the first period, Green Bay had an extended offensive push, which eventually lead to Ben Greiner getting a one-time pass from Barrett Kaib past Nell for an early 1-0 lead. About a minute later, Green Bay caught a break, as the Steel had the puck in Green Bay's end. The whistle was blown, and roughly half a second later, the puck trickled out from between Rotolo's pads, towards the net.
Not a team to take a lucky bounce for granted, the Gamblers got back down in the Steel end. A Johnny Wingels turnover lead to an easy goal for Ryan Siroky, pushing the score to 2-0.
In an effort to fire up his team, Danny Fetzer dropped the gloves with Brandon Kirk. The two threw a few punches that never landed before Kirk flipped Fetzer to the ground about 10 seconds in. Though it lead to a near-miss, the effort did seem to fire up the Steel, as Alex Roos just missed a wide-open net at the 10:08 mark of the period.
Bill Eiserman would be the one to get the Steel on the board, with a blast over Rotolo's stick-side pad, netting his first career USHL goal. However, the momentum would be short, as the Gamblers would strike just as Christian Neumann's high sticking penalty ended, pushing their lead to 3-1. Kirk got himself a roughing call not too terribly long after, which lead to a faceoff outside the offensive zone for reasons unknown. The Steel couldn't capitalize, and the first period ended with the Gamblers up 3-1.
The first half of the second period was rather uneventful, short of a failed Steel powerplay from a Nicholas Schilkey hook. Around the 12:30 mark of the period, Greiner had a breakaway, but tried one too many stick handling moves in front of an open net, and couldn't capitalize. Sheldon Dries did manage to later, however, bouncing a puck off Nell's pads from behind the net to push the Gambler lead to 4-1. On the Penalty Kill for a Brandon Kirk cross-check, Kyle Novak put home a 2-on-1 charge following a Steel turnover, the shorthanded goal getting the Gamber lead to 5-1.
With time running out, the Steel mustered one last push. Knowing the buzzer was about to sound, Christian Heil fired a shot from just inside the blue line with literally one second left in the period, making the score 5-2 heading into the second intermission.
Eiserman, who was having an all-around fantastic game, goal aside, decided that one goal wasn't really enough, and fired a blue line blast early in the third. While it appeared to be tipped by Charlie O'Connor, the scorekeeper said elsewise, and the Steel pulled to 5-3. This would end the Steel's scoring, but not the game's, as at the 6:15 mark, Nick Schmaltz flicked a shot through the 5-hole, getting the score to what would be its final at 6-3.
LINES:
MacEachern - Heil - Polino
Pigozzi - Ebbing - O'Connor
Widmar - Kubiak - Roos
Fetzer - Dodero - McNamara
Neumann - Slavin
Eiserman - Davison
Wingels - Leblanc
PP: Pigozzi - Ebbing - Roos - Slavin - O'Connor; Polino - Heil - MacEachern - Neumann - Davison
PK: Ebbing - O'Connor - Slavin - Leblanc; Pigozzi - McNamara - Eiserman - Davison
SUNDAY GRADES:
- Roster management: A-. If Ruelykke's dinged and not just scratched, this moves up to an A+. Hat tip on finding Karpinski, who would likely do better than Alec Derks.
- Coaching: B-. The Steel really could have used a time out at some point on Sunday to try and regroup against a relentless Green Bay attack. This never happened.
- Forward performance: C. With Sak out, the Steel don't have the back end to survive being outshot.
- Defensive performance: C-. Turnovers lead to goals, and the Gamblers were allowed 39 shots on net.
- Goaltending: B+. Nell didn't get beat on anything soft or stupid. As solid a performance as one can imagine for going 33/39.
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