Byline: MSP Command
Headquarters, Lansing MI

The Americans entered the night still searching for their first win of the season. By 11pm they had a checkmark in the win column. The Americans survived with a tight and tense 2-1 victory over the Whale. The story of the night was the tremendous goaltending performance by @Tom Leader. “He stole us the game much like a goalie steals wins in the NHL playoffs” said defenseman @bbalasia who recorded an assist on the night.

Co-GM @manny shuffled the lines on this occasion pairing @tkshreve and Bin with center @antio1pd. “It’s a pretty formidable line” said @jserda who squared off against the BAT line (Bin-Antioch-Timmy) all night. “But they are old as dirt”. The BAT line cinstituted the offense for the game with goals from Bin and Antioch. Both goals came on long distant clappers that beat Whaler goalie @ARiley. Commenting on the goaltending @dougefresh said “he’s gotta have those. If he was Canadien he would have stopped them!”.

The Whalers lone goal came in the dying seconds of the 2nd period and was controversial. A deep face off was won by the Whaler centerman and swept back to the left point. With the clock reading 0:00, the puck traveled through a mass of humanity parked in front of the net and entered the goal. Immediately American players confronted the down low official for his ruling. The decision was in the hands of rookie referee @davep to determine the outcome. Official Vape pulled his vape device out of his mouth, grasped his whistle and deftly pointed towards the goal signifying a “good goal” had been scored.

With his chin strap undone and a solid black ref jersey on, Dave was instantly surrounded by players wearing the red white and blue. “There’s no way the puck went in before the buzzer sounded” yelled forward @dreamweaver. The sound “Fuck You” echoed from the scorers table presumably from clock operator @CLAWZ or @Cipps. Dave was emphatic with his decision and awarded the goal despite the objections. Commenting after the game Vape eloquently defended the decision. “Eye sawz da puck kross da line and didn’t hear da horn, so goal counts”. The new MNL Director of Officiating @JgtWrubel felt the need to publish a statement regarding the incident. An excerpt from the document stated “Referee VapeD has been counseled on the matter. His probation period shall be extended and he will be relegated to Junior Varsity games ONLY… which constitute the Americans, Whalers and Seals”

The game would not see any more scoring but the Whalers were not without chances. @youngtr7 said “we totally outplayed them”. The Whalers upgraded their defense with crafty veteran Sir Gary Young. “The guys is a throw back player” said @jmcshannock “I heard he used to play with Toe Blake”. The Americans look to ride the momentum into next week against the high flying Nordiques led by come back player of the year nominee @pauly and @hardyparty92. “It will be a good measuring stick for our club” lamented @smachi.

Reporting from Hampton Inn Room 400,
Dickie Dunn