Reno Pond Hockey took on the Tahoe Dawgs in their last game. It was game 6 for Reno Pond Hockey. There are now only 5 games left in the season for Reno Pond Hockey. The game took place on October 31, 2021 at 9:30PM at Reno Ice. That’s right a game on Halloween night.
Reno Pond Hockey was coming off of a 5-4 shootout win over the Slappy Gilmores. Reno Pond Hockey was 3-2-0 heading into the game. Reno Pond Hockey sat in 4th in the standings. The Tahoe Dawgs came into this game after a 4-3 win against Blue Moon. The Tahoe Dawgs were in 10th place in the standings. Reno Pond Hockey faced the Tahoe Dawgs back on August 15th. Reno Pond Hockey lost that game 2-6. It was a fairly aggressive contest with 25 minutes in penalties between both teams. The all time record between Reno Pond Hockey and the Tahoe Dawgs is 0-1-0.
The Tahoe Dawgs scored first on the only goal of the first period. Reno Pond Hockey responded in the second period by tying the game on the power play. The Tahoe Dawgs would get another goal before the end of the second. The Tahoe Dawgs lead 1-2 to end the second. The Tahoe Dawgs scored 3 in the third. The final score was 1-5. The last three Tahoe Dawgs goals came within the last 10 minutes of the game. Majority of the game was close even though the scoreline didn’t show that.
Reno Pond Hockey struggled to get the puck out of the defensive zone. The Tahoe Dawgs had a lot of offensive zone time because of this. Reno Pond Hockey also struggled to stop the long pass game that the Tahoe Dawgs were playing. Majority of the game the Tahoe Dawgs had 3 offensive players in the neutral zone or floating around their own blue line while the puck was in their own zone. Reno Pond hockey was still getting chances even though they were only able to capitalize on one. Staying in their own zone for most of the game didn’t allow them to get enough chances to win. The game was also very aggressive. There was a lot of high sticks and head contact that was not called.
The big story coming out of the game is that #7 Joshua Pellegrino has been suspended for the rest of the season.
Here is what the league said:
“Four minutes left in the third #7 on Reno Pond was accidentally high-sticked in the back of the head. No call was made and the player was clearly agitated by that. He then proceeds to skate up the boards and make a deliberate run and check of the puck carrier in the neutral zone resulting in a violent collision”
“Number 7, Josh Pellegrino is suspended for the rest of this season. The nature of the check and then the slur being yelled is simply unacceptable.”
Reno Pond Hockey does not condone this type of behavior from any of their players or staff. Reno Pond Hockey heavily discourages this type of behavior. We do not want to anyone injured. As an organization we do not want to cause anyone harm. Language that is offensive, hateful, or discriminatory in nature anywhere in the rink before, during or after the game is unacceptable. We are saddened that this happened. This is not a representation of our values as an organization.
This type of behavior is discouraged in team emails, team messages, team meetings, and in the locker room before games. Reno Pond Hockey encourages players to not retaliate, not say things out of anger, not to do anything that would be considered abuse of officials (using insulting language or gestures at or in reference to officials). We encourages our players to not argue calls during the game. We goes as far as to ask players to let the captain be the only one to talk to the officials.
Again we are saddened that this happened. We agree with the leagues decision of suspending #7 Joshua Pellegrino for the rest of the season. We have already started to take further steps in addition to already existing measures to make sure that this does not happen in the future.
*The stats aren’t 100% accurate.
With 5 games left to go in the season it is time to talk about the playoffs. Currently Reno Pond Hockey sits one spot out of a 4 team playoffs. Reno Pond hockey is tied in points with the Murder Hornets but the Murder Hornets have a game in hand. In the event of an 8 team playoff Reno Pond Hockey sits comfortably in 5th. They have 2 points (one win) from being eliminated in an 8 team playoff picture.
Zac Electrifly 