Part 1 of CT Whale Bowl 2011

The Whale Bowl 2011 is brought to you by Harvest-properities.com and it is a 2 week event that started Feburary 9th and runs until Feb 22nd. High school and college games have been held in the preceeding days leading up until the main attraction of the CT Whale and Providence Bruins which is going to take place Feburary 19th at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT. This is Connecticut's 2nd outdoor hockey game and it is shaping up to be an epic day here in East Hartford.
The day started with a match-up between Army (8-18-4, 7-12-4 AHA) and American International College (7-18-1, 7-15-1 AHA). The 1st period was an exciting exhibition of goaltending between Jay Clark of Army and Ryan Kerpan of AIC as both goalies demonstrated their talents in net, especially with their gloves. AIC threw 14 shots on goal in the 1st period and Clark made a few glove saves on quick one-timers to perserve the shutout. Kerpan looked sharp as well by stopping all 9 shots he faced.
The 2nd period got underway and picked up where the 1st period ended, but as time progressed into the period, the sun and shadows started to creep in on the north and west side of the field and ice rink. AIC was defending the north end of the ice rink where the sun was lowering right into eye level for Kerpan. A penalty by Jon Puskar at 9:18 put Army on the PowerPlay and it did not take long for Army to strike with the games first goal. Mark Dube's goal on the PowerPlay for Army opened the flood gates on AIC as they let up two more goals before the end of the 2nd period. No doubtedly the sun and shadows played a factor in that period.
Coming out into the 3rd period, due to the sun and shadows on the ice, teams would split the period on both ends of the rink. AIC being down 3-0 chose to defend the same end of the ice as they did in the 2nd period for the first 10 minutes of the 3rd period hoping to tally a goal or two and not allow any before the switch. It did not work out according to plan for the Yellow Jackets as Army lengthened the lead with a goal in the first minute of the period. AIC managed to score on a PowerPlay to avoid the shutout, but Army showed why they were the better team today. They were able to kill the PowerPlay five times today and captialize on offensive breakaways.
The 2nd event of the Whale Bowl today is an Alumni Game of former Hartford Whalers and Boston Bruins...more to come!