Hockey recap: Tough weekend losses for the Mules

Fri. Jan. 11 – at Findlay

What turned out to be a tough weekend started in front of a packed house in Findlay.  The fans certainly got their money’s worth on this game.  The Trojans found themselves in penalty trouble early on, and Bedford took advantage of it to stun the crowd.

Michael Pisanti scored with 1:28 remaining in the first period, assisted by Kyle Kuhr.  Within the first three minutes of the second period, the Mules made it 2-0 on Pisanti’s second goal of the night, assisted by Kuhr and Jim Schulty.

Penalties haunted Bedford towards the end of the period as Findlay capitalized on a two player advantage to cut the lead to 2-1.  Before a minute had transpired in the third period, the Trojans evened the score.  From that point, both teams tightened their defense to take the game into overtime.

In the Ohio league, the teams play a five minute overtime followed by a shootout if necessary.  Defense continued to prevail in the extra frame and neither team could score.  Findlay made good on their first shot and never looked back to take the hard-fought decision.  Adam Glick turned back 31 of 34 shots in goal for the Mules.

Sat. Jan. 12 – at Chelsea

Chelsea has been freely running over opponents this season, making Bedford’s challenge even more difficult on the day after an overtime loss.  The Mules showed their character by taking the Bulldogs into overtime before dropping a 6-5 heartbreaker.

A penalty 14 seconds into the game gave Bedford a power play opportunity, and midway through it Jim Schulty put the Mules on the board, assisted by Noah Szenderski.  Then it was a string of five Mule penalties that led to a pair of Chelsea goals to complete the first period scoring.

Jacob Ansara tied the game two minutes into the second period, assisted by Weston Swick and Josh Hoogendoorn, but the Bulldogs added two more goals to take a 4-2 lead into the final period.  Schulty completed his hat trick in the third period, both goals assisted by Devin Keener and Szenderski.  Chelsea had also scored between those goals, so they held a slim 5-4 lead as time wound down.

With goalkeeper Adam Glick on the bench, the Mules used the extra forward to set up the game tying goal with 12 seconds left.  Weston Swick found the back of the net, assisted by Ansara and Hoogendoorn, as the vocal Bedford crowd danced in the Arctic Coliseum aisles.

Unfortunately the glee was short lived.  Just 43 seconds into the eight minute overtime, the Bulldogs pounded home a rebound to eke out the win.  Chelsea outshot Bedford 37-22 in the game, extending the Mules’ losing streak to six games.