ICC-Chatham

The game was hard fought, tough and physical and ended in a 0-0 draw. I said last year Steve Oleynek was primed to become one of the better keepers in the league in a hurry and tonight I think he cemented himself towards the top of the goalkeeping heap. He made 2-4 saves for Chatham that probably should have been goals and kept Chatham in the game for the first 65 minutes where ICC really outplayed them.

ICC put a lot of talent out on the field tonight, it was pretty impressive but their inability to finish was somewhat disappointing. Chatham had a fair share of talent out there as well but the big players didn't seem to stand out as much as I was hoping considering how big of a game this was.Chatham finished the final 15 minutes and the first overtime very well looking like they deserved the draw although ICC played the second OT w/ more urgency. All in all a draw seems about right for the game if not a 1-0 ICC win. So a good fight for Chatham to earn the draw.

Chatham lost about 5 players throughout the course of the game to what looked like cramps which was weird because it was cold out and not a warm night, but the Riders didn't seem to have the same trouble. A few cards handed out, I think ICC had 1 and Chatham had 2 on players, one on the coach. I am not convinced any were truly deserved but I came away feeling the game was well officialed.

I was impressed with Mitchell Niemeyer in the mid for ICC, skilled and smooth with the ball. Nick Boardman did well at sweeper controlling the defense and getting the ball out of danger for ICC. Steve Domino was only challenged once and that was with 2 minutes left and he came through with the save. For Chatham I thought Mike Gilbert showcased a strong foot out of the back and Cody Clifford played really tough in the mid and up front. Will Gauthier's speed was impressive and Francesco Tine is only a freshman, he's going to be very good.

This result only makes the next two games on ICC's schedule even that much more important as they have Maple Hill on Thursday and the postponed match up against Cairo on Saturday. Chatham earning a draw here is good after their opening game loss to Cairo, keeps them in the thick of things.