After 2 heartbreaking losses the Gators were in need of a "W" and from the schedule it would appear they weren't going to get it easy, matched up against the Diablos. We found out Tuesday morning, however that the cream of the Diablo crop would be unable to play in the 9pm game this week due to a scheduling conflict with 5 players busy coaching the Rochester Edge for the upcoming NYS Championships.

Kudos to each and every Gator team member for agreeing to play the game at 10:30 to allow those players to participate. Unfortunately we were unable to get ESL to reschedule referees for a later game so the time stayed at 9pm and the Diablos were without their big guns.

Last time Mark Howell and Michel Fournelle shredded the Gators in an 8-1 rout. This time they weren't there, and neither was their starting goalie. This was feeding time in the swamp for the Gators as they jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never looked back.

Chris Conley and Brian Pasano had hat tricks and Tom Savage and Steve Rowe had 5 assists each as the Gators rolled to an 11-3 win. Brian Mellor got the Gators started with 2 early goals. Jerry Suplicki was solid as always between the pipes, denying any chance for the Diablos of making this a close game.

Brian Drake spent most of the game mixing it up with Mike Roberts. On the bench, Chris Conley said "he's such a nice guy OFF the ice..." and on his very next shift Roberts nearly beheaded Conley when he hooked him down by the neck, thwarting a 3 on 0 for the Gators. According to the referee, his stick "rode up". Yeah...it "rode up"... from his neck to his eyeballs.

After a close inspection of the ESL Men's League Rulebook (I bet you didn't know such a thing existed) we understand that in order to receive a double minor penalty for hooking the player's severed head must be affixed to the stickblade of the player being assessed the penalty. Good to know.

From now on Conley's nickname is Gonzo because according to Chris Ryan that hook was like "when the muppets get pulled off stage."

Next week's game is on Tuesday. That's about all we know right now because the ESL website is about as current as the news that Osama Bin Laden is either still at large or rotting under a pile of rocks somewhere.

Tonight's 3 Stars

1. Brian Mellor - Got the Gators off to a good start, which was nice after last week's performance where we waited 'till we were down 5-0 before we did anything

2. Brian Pasano - Played a solid 2 way game at center and got the hatter

3. Chris Conley - Got us in double digits on the scoreboard with his "garbage time" hat trick