Justice Riding Three Game Winning Streak Into Playoffs

The most important part of the regular season is the time leading up to the playoffs. This is the time where teams need to play their best and have some luck as well. Fortunately for Justice, both have occurred over the past three games. Everyone on the roster has stepped up down the stretch, which has definitely caught the attention of the opposition. One team didn't even show up and another team's goalie was too afraid to get in between the pipes.

But, this doesn't mean that the past few weeks has been easy. The team has overcome adversity due to a rash of injuries suffered to numerous student-athletes. 2L's Mikey Bryant and Joey Ameilia have played through shoulder injuries, 3L Reid Kashmanian played after suffering a groin injury during his half-marathon (but seriously, can we all just note how shocking it is that Reid ran a half-marathon... like, I definitely lost a bet there), and 3L goaltenders Justin Koifman and Danny Neer were also injured at the same time. Koifman sat out due to a toothache, while Neer sat out due to just pure laziness. 

It seemed like the injuries were going to catch-up to Justice in their game against Phi Psi two weeks ago. Prior to the game, 1L David Fleishman stated, "Champions are defined by how they overcome adversity... This is our moment." And this is exactly what happened when 3L Sue Upward stepped up to the plate, strapped up the pads, and got in between the pipes for a huge game against the frattiest team in the league. "All I ask is that people backcheck," Upward said looking directly at Reid. "That's ALL I ask for." And believe it or not, Reid actually backchecked. The rest of the team built off of this and put in one of the best overall efforts of the year. 1L Andrew Stewart controlled the defense, while Corey/Lochness Pronster/Nessie/PronStar laid the hammer up front. The biggest plays of the game came from Bryant's game-winning bar-down goal and Upward's huge save in the closing seconds, which you can see here: 

Other highlights from the past few games and other notes:
- 1L's Joe Gattuso and Nate Leftko each scored in front of their girlfriends during the 1-0 forfeit. Both ladies said they were really proud. I just hope they didn't realize it was against a shooter tutor. The 1L's also added tallies in the 15-4 win against the Free Agent team that played without a goalie the entire time.
- 1L Wes Gerrie is currently riding a three-game goal scoring streak. Yes, that includes a goal against an ACTUAL goalie.
- 3L Pete Pappy scored a goal from his own blueline in the win over the Free Agents.
- 1L Will Doerr set a team record with 55 shots on goal in the game against the Free Agents.
- 3L Caleb Merrill has not played a game this semester in order to keep his eligibility, so he will be returning next Fall.
- 2L Dan Greene will be traveling to Boston next week for the Frozen Four to recruit goaltenders for next season. We hear BU's third string goalie is pretty decent.


The team is back in action on Monday at 7pm in a rematch with the Free Agents for the SUIHL quarterfinals.