Last Steep opens up on winless Bacchanale

Schaub lights out in net

Don’t believe the hype.
Since the start of this year’s town league hockey season all I’ve heard about is how the Last Steep did this and the Bacchanale did that. Bench clearing brawls, massive penalties, nonstop whining, etc., were all attributed to these two teams.
In an effort to witness it first hand, the time had come to watch these two teams take each other on at Big Mine Ice Arena on Tuesday night.
The hope was that they would live up to their reputations and put on a disturbing display of unsportsmanlike conduct.
But they didn’t.
The Last Steep was coming off their first loss of the season the week before when the Eldo handed them a 7-3 trouncing.
The Bacchanale was still searching for their first win of the season and the two teams took to the ice looking for some personal retribution.
The Last Steep started it off in the first 10 seconds of the game when Nate Welch took pass from the opening face off and scored.
That would be it for the rest of the period from both teams though as Last Steep goalie Reed Schaub and Bacchanale net minder Shawn Harrington proved lights out in net.
Steep skater Tom Consentino split two defenders to skate to net and fire a wrist shot but Harrington pulled it down with an unconscious glove save. Ten seconds later Bacchanale player Tom Collins had an uninterrupted rush at the Last Steep net only to be stuffed by Schaub.
Both goalies closed the period with two more brilliant saves and the Last Steep was sitting on a tenuous one-goal lead after one period.
The Bacchanale surged in the opening minutes of the second period with Mitchell Soiland and Collins anchoring the defense and holding tight at the blue line. Their efforts set up several chances on net for the Bacchanale but Schaub continued to stymie the Bacchanale shooters.
A blistering slapshot by Brian Murphy from the neutral zone beat an unsuspecting Harrington and gave the Last Steep a 2-0 lead. The Bacchanale finally broke the seal in the eighth minute of the second period when Sneaky Pete Nichols whacked his way through the slot to push the puck past Schaub and cut the Last Steep lead back down to one.
One minute later, Wolfpack alumni Jeffery Snyder took a pass up ice from Wolfpack alumni Willy Coburn and put on a deke display with a double move on Schaub to slip a backhand five hole and tie the game 2-2.
The Bacchanale continued to pound at the Last Steep net but Schaub was stuffing slapshots and stacking the pads to deny rebounds, waiting for his offense to come around.
The Bacchanale was poised to make a run at their first win of the season playing a man up for the final minute of the second period, but the man advantage backfired as the Last Steep rattled off three shorthanded goals in a row.
The first came from Milosadik Wishecudski following on a rebound to beat Harrington in close.
Then, Welch and Consentino caught the Bacchanale pinching and countered for a two on one. Welch held the puck, drew the goalie and dished off to Consentino for the easy score a 4-2 Last Steep lead at the end of the second period.
They netted their third shorthanded goal in the first minute of the third period when Wishecudski found Murphy “dangling” in neutral ice and hit with a pass for a breakaway goal and a 5-2 Last Steep lead.
Three minutes later, Wishecudski followed suit, “dangling” in neutral ice to get a clear rush at the Bacchanale net and scoring for a 6-2 lead.
Coburn threw in his two cents, finding the five hole on Schaub for one last Bacchanale strike, but the nail in the coffin came with three minutes left when Josh Schumacher slipped a pass through neutral ice to Consentino and Consentino netted his second goal of the game capping the 7-3 Last Steep win.