Snipers fail to pull the trigger

Aug. 30, 2018

Rather than a sharpshooter, the inaccurately named Snipers from the AHA’s summer league tradition of naming teams with a specific theme (hockey nicknames) were more like the legend of the snipe, a practical joke that should’ve been retired ages ago.

For a sixth consecutive summer, the Spiders and Wingmen, as well as friends from the Gold Rush and Wolfpack, teamed up for the AHA summer league, competing at L5 (C3-equivalent).

With a strong start, going 4–0 in June, followed by a pair of ties to maintain points, the Snipers were in first or second place halfway through the season. The inevitable short benches, short tempers of refs and short ends of the stick on puck luck took their toll, and eventually pushed the Snipers back to third behind the Thin Mints (Mastodons/Rebellion) and Beauticians (Royals). A stunning come-from-behind OT victory off the shinpad of Cory Vandenberghe in the second-to-last game of the regular season against the Danglers (Ice Sages/Wildcats) set up a rematch for the playoffs.

In the single-elimination playoff format, the Snipers ... make sure you’re sitting down ... actually notched a playoff win! The last time a summer Spiders/Wingmen team accomplished this feat was in 2013 as the Grape-Nuts. It’d had been four consecutive first-round busts ever since. The Snipers again came from behind to eliminate the Danglers 6–4 in the first round. There was no such magic in the semi-final against the second-seeded Beauticians, a come-from-ahead loss for the Snipers, who were dominated in every statistical category (including PIMs).

Those Beauticians went on to face (and lose in an apparent shootout to) the Thin Mints for L5 hardware, while the Snipers elevated their post-game celebration game considerably (thanks to Mike Schroeder).

In the regular season stat leaderboards, the Snipers managed to make appearances mostly in the PIM category, and were shut out of the points board thanks to a few puck hogs on the leading Level 5 teams.

• Points leaders

  • NONE

• Goals leaders

  • Jim Lindholm (8; tied for 7th place)
  • Todd Krough (8; tied for 7th place)
  • Dave Sommerness (8; tied for 7th place)

• Assists leaders

  • Cory Vandenberghe (9; 7th place)

• PIM leaders

  • Dave Sommerness (20; 4th place)
  • Tim Bullock (14; 8th place)
  • Jim Lindholm (12; tied for 9th place)

• Goaltending

  And goaltender Suzanne Kellogg, in her second summer season with the Wing+Ders, finished FIRST in save percentage (thanks to her pourous defense), at 90.65, and third in average goals allowed, at 3.25.

See full division leader stats.

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
• Scoreboard
• Stats