(Contributed by Colin McCollough)
Carried by Alisdair McKay, the Orange team prevailed in what turned out to be an offensive showcase of talent for both teams. On Saturday, April 11th the Noontime faithful turned out in full force for the eagerly anticipated annual season-ending showdown between Orange and Black. This is the time when the locker room jockeying and trash talking are laid on the ice, and the winner gets rights to a summer-long basking in the glory of victory.
Here's how it played out: First, the family media held photo time with both teams at center ice, and a speech from our venerable leader, Mark Ratliff, who summarized the occasion nicely - "what a great way to end the season with your best friends!" John Cook then followed up on Mark's comments saying, "Speaking as a Princeton alumni, Noon-time Hockey is by far the best 'class' he has ever taken at the University." Then both teams retired to their benches for some last minute strategic line adjustments in preparation for the big game. What followed was fast and furious, back and forth hockey: 2 minutes into the first period, as Karsten and Lars fought to gain an advantage in the Orange slot, Lars would wind up on the ice. Lars would later admit that he "was a little exaggerated" in drawing the hooking penalty on Karsten. With Karsten in the penalty box plotting his revenge, Black posted the first goal of the game at 17:45. Number 23, Cassandra Pugh, scored from the top of the left circle on a feed from number 11??? as the Orange goalie, Robert Natoli lost his footing while coming out to meet the play. Orange was next to notch a goal with a flurry of activity in front of the Black net with Pete Demers scoring on the assist from Andrew Tucker and Cassandra. Then Abel Kahn put away a short handed goal for Black at 10:10 into the first period while number 7??? served a penalty for hooking. Once again, Orange refused to let it go unanswered and Alisdair began tallying his first of 2 hat tricks for the day. He scored unassisted at 10:01. Then Black number 0??? scored on a pass from Bob, #18 on the ice between Rob's legs.
Don't blink, the scores came so fast it was hard to write fast enough. Alisdair scored his second at 3:59 to tie it up with what was probably his nicest shot of the game; a nice wrist shot from the hash marks at center ice. Not content with that, Orange pulled ahead with Alisdair's first hat trick at 3:30, and again at 1:45 with a nice, well-placed bullet from the top of the slot. Black notched another goal before the buzzer sounded as Abel scored on a feed from Tommy and Lars. Orange leads at the end the first with a score of 5 to 3, and already Black was gunning for #4, Alisdair: someone was heard muttering "we gotta put the clamps on Alisdair."
The second period went to Black with a total of 4 goals. The tempers were starting to show with a total of 5 penalties as follows: Lars was called for hooking 45 seconds into the second period. Kyle Foster was next to visit the sin-bin with a hooking call at 17:45. Steve Mayle made a guest appearance in the penalty box with a checking call at 12:25. The scoring came late in the second period with the dynamic duo of Tommy and Abel moving it through the neutral zone very nicely and notching a goal at 6:13. This would be Abel's hat trick for Black, as he put in a solid offensive effort for his team. Black was very strong on the penalty kill with Mark Ratliff in the box for a cross check. John Cook and Steve Mayle were tenacious and cleared the puck out of the zone 7 times to kill the penalty and hold Orange to only one goal for the entire second period. Not content with playing defense, Steve would break away from the field on a give and go with Abel followed by 3 sweet moves around the Orange defense to score with 40 seconds left in the second, knocking the goalie's water bottle off the net.
The third period was all Orange on the board, but on the ice it was back and forth fierce battles for control of the puck. Karsten pulled Orange to within one goal of Black with a goal at 16:22. Apparently there was some confusion on the Orange bench and they got called for too many men on the ice at 15:36. Andrew Tucker served the penalty, though he insisted "it wasn't me!" The game was still non-stop furious action back and forth and could have gone either way until Alisdair notched his second hat trick to tie the game with 5:47 left in the third. With the Black team exhausted at this point, Karsten trailed Alisdair through the neutral zone and into the Orange offensive zone to press on the forecheck. Karsten picked off Black's clearing attempt and converted it on a hard shot to notch the game winning goal with very little time left in the contest. Orange would hold on the advantage and come away with the 8 to 7 win.
What a fitting end to a great season; lots of scoring, evenly talented rosters of great friends, and another great game for Noontime Hockey at Hobey Baker rink!
The Most Improved Player Award went to Cassandra Pugh.
The Spirit of Noon-Time Award went to Ed Muston.
MVP for the Season End Game was Alisdair McKay.
| Orange | Black |
| Andrew Tucker -- Captain | Steve Mayle -- Captain |
| Matthew Ferry (injured) -- Bench Coach | |
| Robert Natoli -- Goalie | Adam Natoli -- Goalie |
| Pete Demers | Cassandra Pugh |
| Karsten Hilpert | Mark Ratliff |
| Mike Sharp | Abel Kahn |
| Alisdair McKay | Tommy Oprzadek |
| John Cook | |
| Adam Hincks | Bob Stockman |
| Peter Krivcov | Stephan Marin |
| Colin McCollough | Lukas Urban |
| Dave Cylinder | Henry Umansky |
| Jeff Schneider | Steve Bickerton |
| Kyle Foster | Lars Hedin |