Eastern Conference 13 vs. Western Conference 10
East juggernaut line dominates...
Friday, November 22, 2002

With new look teams in place after the mid-season trade, both looked to strut their stuff while sporting new leadership pairings. Newly promoted Team West captain, Chris Archibald now leads a squad for the first time in his MDHL career, while GM/Players Quan and Lai fill in as alternates on their new teams.

Could the East rebound from their dismal 1-4 record? Didn't seem likely based on their pre-game prep as F Michael Nguyen suits up in the dressing room with an inquisitive "Hey... no skates in my bag... er, do I need them?". With regular netminder Samson Chow out of the lineup (but rest of rosters intact for the first time), Team West was backstopped with a rare appearance by Kelvin "they call me the wall" Ho. Unfortunately, just like that one in Berlin, this wall was also dismantled, this time almost singlehandedly by one line from the East, the dreaded "Corson, Tucker, and some-other-schmoe" combination, also known as AnthonyChang-RichardChang-JasonChang. Accounting for nearly all the offense, not to mention wow'ing the present wives and sisters in the stands (hey, it's the same person, go figure), captain Skate led all shooters with eight goals and considered a serious run at his record 10-goal performance from a few seasons back.

In other action, bodies were flying and falling from all directions as West forward Clark Lim is felled by a slapshot from the point (did anyone yell "Timber!" in advance? Hee.), East D Gordon Chan is dropped in the corner, going down like he was shot but still having the presence of mind to play the puck being the true lionheart that he is, and finally East D Jackson Chiu, leaping over those boards beautifully with one hand just like the pro's. Poetry in motion, baby. Watch for it next time.

Back to the game, the final score flattered the play, as the West struggled early and were buried under a 10-2 deficit at one point, but kudos to them for battling back, riding on the usual offense from Oye and Leung and also including East F Stan "I'm bustin' out baby" Quan scoring his first goal of the season for his new team.

MDHL 3 Stars:

3. Sean Oye.. offensive threat all night long for the losint team... How does this guy get so open?
2. Mike Smith... solid in his office, as usual.
1. Anthony Chang... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7... count 'em... EIGHT goals!