It was literally and figuratively a case of men versus boys when the Norman Northstars alumni suited up against the midget AA Thompson King Miners at the C.A. Nesbitt Arena Feb. 8, with the alumni racking up goal after goal for a 16-1 final.
Cody Genaille, who finished the game with two goals, got the scoring started 1:42 into the game, shovelling a puck past King Miners goaltender Landon Hofer. Jeff English got the alums’ second about five minutes later. Mike Krentz, who scored four goals in the contest, soon made it 3-0 and Jared Kissick went five-hole after getting the puck all alone in front to give the alumni a 4-0 first intermission lead. Shots were 16-5 in the alumni’s favour in the opening 20 minutes.
Krentz and Genaille each scored their second goals in the first four minutes of the middle frame to put the alumni up by half-a-dozen. Goals by Lorne Leslie, Alex Head, Kevin Braun and a second from English made it 10-0 after 40 minutes with the former Northstars leading 29-9 on the shot clock.
Jerome Linklater buried a pass from English for the alumni’s 11th goal with 6:34 left to play in the third period. Trent Laycock made it a dozen less than a minute later. Steven Goran extended the lead to 13 with 2:53 before Dawson Bilawka broke the shutout for the King Miners 13 seconds later. That seemed to ignite the alumni, who got another goal from Goran and two more from Krentz, the last on a breakaway with 24 seconds to play. Shots ended up 43-15 for the Northstars alumni.
