Dayton Fangs Women's Ice Hockey

In a game that featured 3 shots on net for the Fangs before any shots were made against Fangs netminder Marianne Graham, the final score (11-1) doesn't do justice to the game. The game began in the offensive end for the Fangs as they looked to take the lead for the first time ever, but the tides quickly changed with a rush by IBAH Team Six towards the Fangs net. Though the first period would continue to have scoring opportunities for the Fangs, they were able to keep the puck out of their own net until more than half way through the first when Team Six decided to throw some crazy guy with a black jersey on the ice (Team Six players were all in white). Blackjersey would score their first two goals and all of a sudden by the end of the first, the Fangs were down 6-0. The Fangs were helped defensively by the return of Julie Goode who has been out since a car accident the evening before the Indy tournament. This was the first IBAH game for Goode, who was paired with Captain Choh for the evening. Also on the blueline was Fang-in-law, Greg Frangioni who is visting his brother and Fangs Coach Ralph, who racked up another penalty in the game, for a short time. Greg and Ralph made the other defensive pairing and like the blue helmet crew, played excellent defense. Up front Amber Kiser got her first start in an IBAH game. Kiser is a new addition to the Fangs. Not only was this her first IBAH game, but her first game, EVER! She did quite well and was all smiles after the game. Once again our scoring offense was put on the board by a male member of the team, a Chris LaPole scored his second goal in IBAH. However, many of the women had scoring opportunities. The Fangs played a strong second and third periods and other than the lapse in the first while Mr. Blackjersey was on the ice, the Fangs played 75 minutes essentially giving up a goal every 6.8 minutes. Considering that the first game averaged a goal every 2.4 minutes that is much improved. But there is certainly more to say for this game. The players really worked well together as a team. Krista Kercher continued her stellar play with several scoring opportunities. Julie Orenstein played correct positioning and fought hard to get the puck out of the defensive end several times. Casie Hall, C.Hall, may have more games in than practices at this point. She has a lot of guts to go out and play so soon and has really been an encouragement to other players on the team. And Kim LaPole, who has now played every position but goalie, is nicely settling in as a Center. Sari Hardyal was our bench crew for the first half of the game but when Shannon Riffle became ill and could not continue, she rushed to the locker room and jumped in to the game. Shannon stuck around for a while taking care of the doors on the bench then moved to the stands to cheer on her teammates. She was joined by her future husband Mr. Smith who is a frequent fan of the Fangs. Andrea Welch also came out to cheer for the Fangs. As always the Fangs appreciate the help given to them by Head Coach Gary Welch, his son Danny (who played sick), Coach Ralph and his brother Greg, and Chris Lapole. The Pack will meet again to faceoff against IBAH Team 1 (aka Team Russo) (Team 1's Charlie Russo the father of Emily Russo, a Fang who is currently on an internship in Florida, who will return to the ice this summer) on Monday at 9:40 p.m.

The Fangs, with fan support from Amber Kiser and Andrea Welch and help on the bench by Captian Audrey Choh, had their closest IBAH game to date, losing to Team Two, 11-3. The game was full of penalties for the Fangs. The stellar performance of Bill Daniels was accompanied by a few penalties by the netminder, while Shannon Riffle became the Fangs new PIM leader. The Fangs held tight to hold off Team Two on most of the plays. Not bad for a PK that hasn't seen a whole lot of time at practice. The Fangs recently begun to help opposing goalies rack up some very poor save percentages. With 11 shots on net the Fangs pushed 3 past the Team Two goaltender. While there were some amazing scoring opporunities by both Julie Orenstein and Kim LaPole, Head Coach Gary Welch, his son Danny, and Kim's husband Chris (with a Power Play Goal) were the scorers for the golden wolves. Heather Goechel made her first appearance as a Fang in the IBAH league. Known for her remarkable defensive skills, Goechel was an important addition to the team. Several players are racking up incredible amounts of experience in the IBAH league, including Casie Hall (C.HALL) who has played in 3 games after started playing hockey just over a month ago. Also, up front, Krista Kercher and Sari Hardyal have both seen the same amount of time in addition to the women's games they've recently played in. And Carol Blankenship continues to gain experience on the Blueline for the Fangs. Thanks to the coaches and other guys who came out to help support the Fangs as they continue to push through IBAH while gaining valuable game experience, Blueliners Coach Ralph and Dennis, Forwards Coach Gary, Danny, and Chris, and in net this week Bill. Please join the Fangs this Saturday as they take on IBAH Team 6 (aka Team McCappin) at 9:40 at the Kettering Recreation Complex.

The Dayton Fangs, missing team Captain Audrey Choh (illness) and defenseman Dennis Doucette took on Team Barker in IBAH play Friday night, skating away with an 18-2 loss but showing a 13 goal improvement over their first game. The game started shakey as goaltender Marianne Graham let in a few soft goals taking the score to 5-0 before the half way mark of the first period. But the team and Graham rallied and held Team Barker to just 1 goal for the rest of the period. Danny Welch scored on a breakaway in the second for the Fangs first goal of the season. Heading into the third the Fangs were down just 10-2. Coach Ralph Frangioni picked up the first IBAH penalty for a little roughing action behind the Fangs net. In her first game in IBAH Carol Blankenship played solid D and in relief of soem of the missing, Patti Rupp-Hunt contributed as well. The Fangs continued their strong knowledge of entering the zone with only two whistles against them for offsides. Cheering on the team from the bench and the stands were sickly Captain Choh, ailing forward Julie Orenstein and newbie Carol Galbraith, as well as team favorite Jonah. The Fangs next action will be Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 9:40 at the Kettering Recreation Complex where they will take on IBAH Team 2. Go Fangs!

The combined team featuring a handful of Fangs, five Capitals, four Sirens, and a player from the Strongsville Stingers/Pittsburgh Puffins played 3 strong games in the Top division at the Lucky Stars Tournament in Cincinnati. Kim LaPole, Sari Hardyal, Krista Kercher, Julie Orenstein, Patti Rupp-Hunt, and Marianne Graham all saw time with the team as they took on two teams from Cincinnati (Stars Black and Stars Orange) and one excellent team from Missouri (Hericanes). The team took a quick lead in the first period verses the Black Stars with Allison Kossler (POWHA Columbus Capitals) putting the puck past Cassie Zureick (POWHA Cincinnati Rising Stars). The lead held up until the final second of the 1st when a Stars player bounced the puck off Courtney Spurgeon (Circle City Sirens) into the air and got the lucky and timely bounce into the net moments before the horn sounded. The next period contained goals from Michelle Hill (POWHA Columbus Capitals) and 2 more from the Cincy team. Due to circumstances outside the control of the team, the refs decided to start a running clock with the game 3-2 in favor of Cincy. Though the combined team worked hard to get a tying goal, it was Cincy in the end who got one more and the game quickly ended 4-2 with Cincy on Top. The following game was against a fantastic and very physical team from Missouri. The Hericane team came out with a lot of pressure and scored two goals quickly to go up 2-0 in the first. The combined team settled it down though and really held the talented team off for most of the game. The combined team was outshot 36-10 and outscored 6-0, but considering the level of competition the score doesn't tell how the game really went. There were some great chances offensively and soem wonderful defensive plays. There were also some questionable calls and a questionable goal. However, the game was a great experience. The next morning the combined team awoke to be joined by a few more Fangs players and one more Siren who helped to replace the injured Kercher, and AWOL Hardyal and Graham. The combined team took on the Cincy Orange team in a tight game that the combined team lost 3-0. The tournament was a great learning experience for the Fangs who participated, supported by combined team coaches Gary and Ralph who both made the 2 day trip. The team competed in the Top Division but showed no fear. The tournament results left us 0-3, but we were strong every shift. Thanks to the other teams who participated as well. Look for more combined opportunities in the future.

The Fangs, who had merely 5 players when they started in October 2005, played their first ever men's league game losing to the number 1 ranked IBAH Team Three, 31-0. Featuring 7 of the now 20+ Fangs, the first IBAH game is a major step in the building of the Dayton Fangs. Though the final score wasn't pretty, there were many accomplishments for the Fangs as a whole and for players individually. As a team, this marked just the 4th game for the Fangs, the first against men, the longest (75 run time is a lot of skating), and the first ever league game of any kind. For Casie Hall, it was her first game. Casie joined the Fangs merely one month ago and has already thrown herself into the game. For Krista Kercher, it was the first big bruise. Kercher blocked a short early in the contest with her knee. If we can we'll try and get a picture of the wound, it would be worth a thousand words, but essentially looks as if there is a puck growing from the inside out on her knee. Krista sucked it up though and returned to finish the game. Shannon Riffle also had major success guarding her pointman while playing wing in the defensive zone. Way to go RiffleSmith! Sari Hardyal took a big hit at center ice from one of the opposing players but bounced right back up with a huge smile on her face. Proving to be ironmen, four players have played in every Fangs game to date. Sari Hardyal, Kim LaPole, Julie Orenstein, and Shannon Riffle have stepped on the ice for every match the Fangs have entered. The game also was one of our most offensive games. We also got a lot of help from Coaches Gary and Ralph, Danny, Chris LaPole, and Dennis Doucette. Special thanks goes to Aaron who was our goalie for the first two periods of the game. He faced nearly 100 shots in the time he spent with our team. We gave him a breather in the third when he switched with the other team's goalie who got punished for the last period. Afterwards the other team said they enjoyed playing us and also believe that the IBAH experience will get us moving in a very positive direction. For my two cents, this first game I played with unexperienced women verses experienced men resulted in a 36-0 loss that I'll never forget, in that same league our final game was a 5-3 loss. It takes a while but all good things come to those who bust their butts! Once again no offsides by Fangs players, and no penalties! All and all a great experience for both players and attendees. Fangs fans Heather, Angie, and Marianne all came out to cheer on the team. Next IBAH game is Friday, March 24, 2006, at 9:40 p.m. when the Fangs will take on IBAH Team Five also known as Team Barker.