I must apologize to you, Hockey Faithful.  The Game of the Week is late!  I could whine about hockey season being extremely busy but you already know that.  The good news is, we've still got plenty of time since the puck drop on our game isn't until tomorrow at 1:00 PM.  Still, there is no excuse for a tardy Game of the Week, so without further adieu...

Let's start with a quick review of last week's game between HSE A and Westfield.  This was a game in which I expected some high powered offense and  I told you the goalies may be in for a long day The teams certainly did not disappoint, with a total of 10 goals lighting up the scoreboard.  Oh, and those kids I told you to watch out for?  Boom.  Connor Murphy and Austin Todd  combined for 6 points for the Shamrocks while Matt Sawyer, Jacob Kessinger, and Luke Owen finished with a combined 5 points for HSE.  

Sadly, after all the razzle-dazzle,  the game ended in a 5-5 tie and you know how much I hate ties.  So, although I called for a 6-4 win by HSE, I'm giving myself another "tie," which brings me to 3-2-2 on the season. 

As we turn our sights to this weekend, I really like the Central Indiana Knights versus the Lake Central (blue) Indians.  The Knights slipped a little this week in the INHockey.net rankings, down to #16 and Lake Central Blue is holding tight at the #20 spot.

This game is interesting to me because of the way the records are shaping up.  In their last meeting, way back in the beginning of November,  the Indians beat the Knights 4-2.  Over the last few games, the Knights have been on a tear, going 4-2 in their last six games and notching wins against Bloomington and Dwenger.  Lake Central, on the other hand, has dropped four of their last six games.  The caveat is they've had to play a very tough Zionsville team, not once, but twice during that time, as well as games against Columbus and HSE.  If I was an astrologist, I'd tell you the stars are aligning for a great game.  

As far as team leaders go, the Knights have four skaters with over 40 points on the season, Nick Spaletto (47 pts), Andrew Fralich (47 pts), Robbie Clarke (43 pts), and Cole Caress (43 pts).  Lake Central has only two skaters that have broken the 20 point mark, Ryan Greene (22 pts) and Michael Faso (21 pts).  However, Lake Central also has net-minders, Casey Hyland and Alec Yakubic, boasting solid save percentages of .888 and .848 respectively.  In fact, Hyland's .888 is good enough to have him ranked 4th in the state for save percentages.   

I have to think the Indians are excited to play against a team that's not ranked in the top 10.  Every coach will tell you they want to test their team against the best competition but we all know, sometimes you just need a win.  On the other side of the puck, the Knights are riding high on confidence and looking for revenge for the November game.  Taking all that into consideration, I'm looking for Lake Central to give the Knights everything they can handle this weekend.   Despite that, I'm calling for the Knights to get their revenge in an ultra physical,  3-2 game.  

There you have it.  The Central Indiana Knights are my team this week.  You heard it here first!