NOT IN MY HOUSE!!!

 North Olmstead, Ohio

  In the last home game until the end of the season the Crunch hosted their divisional rivals the Muskegon Risers in a pivotal match up before the Crunch hit the road. The Crunch came into the game tied with the RGV Barracudas for the leagues best record. The Crunch defended home as expected.

The first quarter started off slowly before the Risers put one in the back of the net to take the lead. The Risers would hold that lead until Admir Suljevic would score with 2:08 left in the first to tie the game at 1-1. Just before the end of the first, Kurt Raney would hook up with "The Captain" David Jordan to take a 2-1 lead going into the second period. 

In the second period Chris Cvecko would shoot a dime past the Risers goal keeper to give the Crunch a 3-1 lead with 7:26 left before half time. The Crunch would score again a minute and some change later as Hunter Johnson would help put the Crunch up 4-2. The Risers would cut the lead to 4-3 Just before half time to try and keep pace going into the second half.

The Crunch would come out on fire in the third as "Flyin" Ryan Minick would get on the stat sheet as he scored early in the period to give the Crunch a 5-3 lead. Not even a minute later before Crunch fans could blink the "Silent Assassin" Mike Derezic would shoot a bullet to make it a 6-3 lead for the Crunch. Soon after that Kevin Blackwood would make his presence felt as he scored his first of the night to put the score at 7-3 in favor of the Crunch with 9:45 left to go in the third period. The Risers would try to cut the momentum short by scoring their fourth goal of the night and make it a 7-4 game, but Kevin Blackwood(2) would silence that buzz when Ryan Minick found him for a easy assist and a 8-4 lead going into the final period.

 The final period was a close one as early in the period " The Captain" David Jordan(2) would find the back of the net for his second goal of the night and put the Crunch in a position to put the game in ice at 9-4. The Risers would battle back as they went on a 3 goal run to make the game close at 9-7 with 3:35 left in the game. Mike Derezic(2) would score his second goal of the night shooting a bullet past the goal keeper and giving the Crunch a 10-spot on the night and a 10-7 lead. The Risers would score again and make it a 2 score game at 10-8. In dramatic fashion Admir Suljevic(2) would score the last goal of the night for the Crunch and give the Crunch an 11-8 lead with :26 seconds left. The Risers would score their last goal to make it 11-9, but at that point it was all she wrote and the final goal of the night.  Although the game was tight at the end Crunch head coach Lou Kastelic had this to say about the win.

  " We set out at the start of the second half to put goals in early. We felt if we scored early and often we'd be able to see the game out. I give them [ Muskegon] a ton of credit. Muskegon never gave up and kept coming at us with all they had. Our guys got a little complacent and I think we now realize how important it is not to do that. In the end, a win is a win. It doesn't matter how pretty or ugly it is. We have to regroup, make sure we rest up and are ready to go next weekend. It won't be easy in Chicago. We need to be poised and ready to go."

When asked about what to expect in Chicago coach Kastelic had this to say.

  " I expect everything out of our control to not go our way. So it'll be more important for us to stay together as a unit and make sure we play the way we are capable when we are at our best for eight quarters."

This game marked the fifth time this season the Crunch scored 10 goals or more. Dating back to their return last season, the Crunch are also 11-0 at home. The Crunch remain undefeated (7-0) and look to continue the trend as they will head to Chicago for a weekend rematch with the Chicago Mustangs. The Crunch won the first series in a weekend sweep and the Mustangs will be looking for revenge. The Crunch are currently 4-1 all-time against the Mustangs and average 13.5 goals a game against the Mustangs this season. The last time the Crunch lost to Chicago was a 9-8 overtime thriller in Chicago which saw a lot of questionable non-calls from the refs. Expect the Crunch to be out for blood and take the game our of the refs hands early.

~IT'S CRUNCH TIME!!~