January 9, Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex
WSA Rapids 9
Snohomish Skyhawks 8
Robby Curry led the WSA Rapids with a hat trick as they won their first ever PASL match in Wentachee 9-8. Brent Ahrens added his first two career goals for the Rapids and Todd Stauber and Oscar Jimenez each had a goal and 2 assists to firmly put the Rapids in second place in the PASL Northwest Division.
Wenatchee opened the scoring in the 1st Quarter, but the Rapids quickly came back on goals by Stauber, Curry, Jimenez and Ahrens to take a 4-1 lead after the 1st Quarter. Ahrens struck again at the start of the 2nd and the Rapids took a comfortable 6-2 lead into halftime, after playing their best half of the season to date.
Curry struck twice more in the 3rd quarter and the Rapids held a 9-4 lead with 7 minutes to play in the match, but Wenatchee pulled their GK in favor of a 6th attacker and stormed back. They were within 9-6 with 3 minutes to play when a power play goal put them within 9-7. A redline free kick slipped through the wall and past Drew Smiley with close to a minute to play to pull the score to 9-8. Wenatchee had 4 shots on goal in the final minute with Smiley turning them away each time and the Rapids held on for the win.
WSA Rapids Goals
1st Half
Todd Stauber (Unassited)
Rob Curry (Oscar Jimenez)
Brent Ahrens (Oscar Jimenez)
Oscar Jimenez (Chris Jepson)
Brent Ahrens (Todd Stauber)
Chris Jepson (Todd Stauber)
2nd Half
Rob Curry (Kristian Powell/Power Play)
Rob Curry (Justin Diener)
Matt Hardin (Matt Fishbaugher)
Game MVP-Rob Curry, M
Power Play-1 attempts, 1 goals (6 for 11 on the year)
Man Down-2 attempts, 1 goals against (7 for 12 on the year)
January 2, Bellingham Sportsplex
WSA Rapids 7
Snohomish Skyhawks 4
The Rapids went into halftime down 4-3 but rallied for 4 goals in the second half and a 7-4 win. Scot Swanson scored twice and Todd Stauber, Gibson Bardsley, and Kristian Powell each added a goal and an assist.
The Rapids fell behind 2-0 in the 1st quarter before pulling even at 2-2 heading into the 2nd, but fell behind again 4-2 and pulled back to 4-3 heading into halftime. After a tough 1st half the Rapids dominated the second half with Dave Hileman getting the game winner midway through the 3rd quarter.
The Rapids power play stayed hot, scoring 2 of 3 chances and putting them at 5 goals in their last 6 attempts over 2 games.
WSA Rapids Goals
1st Half
Scot Swanson (Drew Smiley)
Todd Stauber (Mark Lackey/Power Play)
Kristian Powell (Gibson Bardsley)
2nd Half
Mark Lackey (Todd Stauber/Power Play)
Dave Hileman (Kristian Powell)
Gibson Bardsley (unassisted)
Scot Swanson (Oscar Jiminez)
Game MVP-Scot Swanson, F
Power Play-3 attempts, 2 goals (5 for 10 on the year)
Man Down-3 attempts, 2 goals against (6 for 10 on the year)
December 12, Snohomish Indoor Arena
WSA Rapids 12
Snohomish Skyhawks 7
Todd Stauber scored 4 goals and Gibson Bardsley 3 to lead the Rapids to a win on the road. While the Rapids didn’t defend well, as they did in holding Tacoma to 4 goals the week before, their attack was much better, including 3 shootout goals from Stauber and a 3 for 3 night on the power play after being shutout by Tacoma.
The Rapids took leads of 3-1 and 5-2 before halftime, but couldn’t extend their lead past 3 goals until midway through the 4th period when they pulled ahead 11-7. Scot Swanson finished off the scoring with an empty net goal with under a minute to play.
After being held to no goals or assists against Tacoma, the Rapids forward line of Bardsley, Swanson, and Dave Hileman combined for 5 goals and 1 assist in Snohomish accounting for half of the Rapids scoring.
WSA Rapids Goals
1st Half
Todd Stauber (Shootout)
Gibson Bardsley (Kyle Holland)
Todd Stauber (Shootout)
Todd Stauber (Unassisted/Power Play)
Dave Hileman (Chris Jepson)
2nd Half
Gibson Bardsley (Kristian Powell)
Oscar Jimenez (Unassisted)
Todd Stauber (Shootout)
Gibson Bardsley (Josh Turpen)
Rob Curry (Josh Turpen/Power Play)
Rop Curry (Dave Hileman/Power Play)
Scot Swanson (Empty Net)
Game MVP-Todd Stauber, MF
Power Play-3 attempts, 3 goals (3 for 7 on the year)
Man Down-3 attempts, 2 goals against (4 for 7 on the year)
December 5, Bellingham Sportsplex
Tacoma Stars 4
WSA Rapids 2
It was a well-played match by both teams and in the end Tacoma’s Greg Howes was the difference. The Rapids went into halftime up 1-0 on a goal from Todd Stauber, but just after halftime, Howes turned a Rapids defender and scooped a crafty goal over GK Drew Smiley. WSA immediately re-captured a 2-1 lead on a goal from Rob Curry, but Tacoma scored on a power play to bring it to 2-2 heading into the 4th period.
With just under 4 minutes to play in the final period, a curious call from the referee landed WSA GK Smiley a red card ejection and a shootout opportunity for Howes. He calmly finished for a 3-2 lead and an empty net goal with under a minute to play finished the match at 4-2.
The Rapids had numerous chances, but were unable to finish their chances, as their forward line was completely shutout. Before his ejection, Smiley was the best player on the field for either team, keeping the Rapids in the game with save after save. Despite Howe’s success, the Rapids defended well as a group and put themselves in a position to win the match.
WSA Rapids Goals
1st Half
Todd Stauber (Nick Cashmere)
2nd Half
Rob Curry (Nick Cashmere)
Game MVP-Drew Smiley, GK
Power Play-4 attempts, 0- goals
Man Down-3 attempts, 1 Goal Against
