Malibus clunk out early, often in AHA Summer League
Aug. 30, 2015
Like a nationwide Chevy recall for failure to accelerate, the aptly named Malibus could only get the AC running consistently this summer. For a third summer in a row, the Spiders and Wingmen, along with the goalie from the ShameOnIce, teamed up for the AHA summer league, competing at L4 (C3-equivalent).
As is the AHA’s summer league tradition, the league named teams with a specific theme, and this season was a selection of cars, clunkers and hot rods, and the name given to the Spiders/Wingmen had the team guessing whether it really was the plastic variety from the Barbie Malibu set.
After a respectable start in June, going 2–2–1 in close games, the Malibus ran out of gas, fried the tranny, stripped the brakes, knocked off the hood ornament, etc. In July, the team managed just two standings points in consecutive OT games, going 0–3–1–1. August added another loss and OT loss before the playoffs, finishing the regular season at 2–6–2–2, in 7th place out of 8.
In the single-elimination playoff format, the Malibus faced the second-seed Cobras, but were running on low-octane fumes, and despite a valiant effort to tie the game late, the Goodyear radials came off, and the season ended in a 5–3 defeat to the Cobras.
In the rest of the playoffs, the Camaros (Maroons) drove laps around the competition, until the third-seeded Mustangs edged the Camaros 5–2 in the final for the summer hardware.
In the regular season stat leaderboards, the Malibus managed to make appearances only in the PIM category:
-
PIM leaders
- Dave Sommerness (14; tied for 3rd place)
- Brad Sutton (12; tied for 4th place)
-
Goaltending
And goaltender Brian Silus finished with the TOP save percentage in the regular season, with a 90.08 clip, and fourth in goals against average at 3.36 goals.
In all, a fun summer, and a great way to beat the heat, even if the humidity occasionally led to clouds forming inside the rink.
Season recap
Standings
| GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 37 | 44 | 98 |
| Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camaros | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 64 | 32 | 52 |
| Cobras | 12 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 49 | 40 | 44 |
| Mustangs | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 47 | 39 | 52 |
| Barracudas | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 39 | 36 | 52 |
| Cougars | 12 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 41 | 51 | 70 |
| Challengers | 12 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 30 | 40 | 48 |
| Malibus | 12 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 34 | 45 | 60 |
| Falcons | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 30 | 51 | 131 |
Post-season
| Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | P | GF | GA | PIM | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| * Level 4 champion | ||||||||||
| Mustangs (3)* | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 7 | 22 | +8 |
| Camaros (1) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 42 | +2 |
| Tempos (9) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 16 | +3 |
| Cobras (2) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 10 | +1 |
| Cougars (5) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 10 | -2 |
| Barracudas (4) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | -1 |
| Malibus (7) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -2 |
| Challengers (6) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | -4 |
| Falcons (8) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 26 | -5 |
Scoreboard
| Date | Time (CT) | Arena | Home | Result (Home) | Away | Result (Away) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed., Jun. 3, 2015 | 6:15 p.m. | SLP E | Malibus | 6 | Mustangs | 3 |
| Tue., Jun. 9, 2015 | 7:15 p.m. | Richfield 2 | Cobras | 3 | Malibus | 2 |
| Sun., Jun. 14, 2015 | 9:45 p.m. | SLP E | Malibus | 2 | Challengers | 2 OT |
| Mon., Jun. 22, 2015 | 7:45 p.m. | Breck | Falcons | 2 | Malibus | 6 |
| Sun., Jun. 28, 2015 | 7:30 p.m. | Richfield 1 | Malibus | 2 | Camaros | 6 |
| Thu., Jul. 2, 2015 | 9:30 p.m. | Breck | Cougars | 7 | Malibus | 4 |
| Sun., Jul. 5, 2015 | 6:00 p.m. | Breck | Malibus | 2 | Barracudas | 3 |
| Sun., Jul. 12, 2015 | 7:30 p.m. | Richfield 1 | Mustangs | 5 | Malibus | 0 |
| Mon., Jul. 20, 2015 | 7:30 p.m. | Richfield 2 | Malibus | 1 | Cobras | 2 OT |
| Tue., Jul. 28, 2015 | 7:15 p.m. | Richfield 2 | Challengers | 3 | Malibus | 3 OT |
| Sun., Aug. 2, 2015 | 9:30 p.m. | Richfield 2 | Malibus | 3 | Falcons | 4 OT |
| Sun., Aug. 9, 2015 | 7:15 p.m. | Richfield 1 | Camaros | 5 | Malibus | 3 |
| Date | Time (CT) | Arena | Home | Result (Home) | Away | Result (Away) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Aug. 16, 2015 | 08:00 p.m. | SLP E | Cobras | 5 | Malibus | 3 |
Stats
| # | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | P | PP | SH | GWG | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Note: PIM totals include 2 minutes in “bench” penalties not credited to a player. |
||||||||||
| 21 | Sommerness, D. | C, W | 11 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 22 | Grotbeck, E. | C, D | 13 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 | Berman, P. | LW | 12 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | Fritz, R. | D | 10 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Farner, G. | RW | 11 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 55 | Unwin, K. | LW | 9 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 56 | Schroeder, M. (A) | D, W | 10 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 14 | Litton, J. (C) | D | 10 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Schuster, D. | RW | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 39 | Fleischhacker, J. (A) | F, D | 13 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Mehling, J. | F | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 | Herzig, C. | D | 10 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Sutton, B. | D | 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 20 | Droullard, R. | D, W | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 64 | Kato, M. | D, F | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Byland, T. | D, F | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 40 | Silus, B. | G | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | Cavender, B. (SG) | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals: | 13 | 37 | 53 | 90 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 70 | ||
| # | Goalie | GP | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | W | L | T | OTL | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Note: GA, GAA and Shots totals includes 1 empty-net goal, which is not charged to a goalkeeper. |
|||||||||||
| 40 | Silus, B. | 12 | 42 | 3.50 | 406 | 0.897 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 41 | Cavender, B. (SG) | 1 | 7 | 7.00 | 27 | 0.741 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals: | 13 | 50 | 3.85 | 434 | 0.885 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
