Press releases

08.06.20
Bricktown

Heading into this afternoons matchup with les Foxes, many around Bricktown were weary of the tie. A strong Foxes side, very evenly put together, had been pushing for the top ever since matchday number one.

Lead by their top line of Marián Miklic, Joe Stanley and Vasil Georgiev (also 1, 2 and 3 in team scoring) it looked like it could be a busy day for Starz number one Denver Caven, who had just come off an unconvincing 13 save victory against the Ontario Minerva. A sub .900 save percentage, combined with les Foxes potent offence (11 GF/G, 48SF/G) seemed like a recipe for disaster, and with backup Tomas Inglethorpe not yet cut out for this calibre of offence, he would have to pull out all the stops in order to get a result here.

And pull out all the stops he did, turning aside all 19 shots sent his way in the first, helping his side head into the intermission 1-0 up, courtesy of Deric Strachan's 12th of the season. For a while it looked like he'd go two clean, but late in the second les Foxes finally solved him, albeit on their 27th shot.

Caven and les Foxes own number one, Trevor Ashcroft, held the fort the rest of the way, and after a rather uneventful overtime period, left a shootout to decide things.

Many hockey purists will say that shootouts are a rather cruel way to decide a game, and on this occasion, the sellout crowd of 3950 would definitely agree.

Starz shooters Liburd, Bowling and Strachan were blanked, while les Foxes got a lone goal, to come out on top in this contest, 2-1. But that hardly seemed to matter after the entertainment fans were provided by their netminder.

Spectacular cross crease saves, flashy glove stops and extraordinary reflexes highlighted a performance that Starz fans will remember for the ages. Despite the result not going their way in the end, it could never be the fault of their soon to be fan favorite Caven, his name ringing out through the arena on many occasions. We caught up with him after the game, where he was nothing but smiles.

"Stop the puck, and they'll love, you, eh?"

That they will, Denver, that they will.

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