Sullivan Says Farewell With Unusual Seven Goal Gam

On a night which featured a matchup of the FHL’s two unbeaten teams, it was the undercard, a tilt between the 4th-place Slayers and 5th-place Chill, which will be long remembered.

“That was the weirdest game I ever played in my life” said Slayer Captain Gian Scalet after the game. What made it so? Well, to start with, Scalet sold defenseman Mike Sullivan to the shorthanded Chill before the game. Sullivan switched from maroon to blue and promptly scored 4 first period goals for his new team. That was enough for Scalet to demand Sullivan’s return, as the Slayers trailed 9-4.

Lynx forward Glenn MacCulloch was recruited to join the Chill for the middle frame, and the Slayers came out flying, led by Tony Joyce’s natural hat trick. One of these was a power play marker scored with Matt Wheeler in the penalty box for a high stick infraction. “I needed the rest” Wheeler admitted. It worked, as Wheeler counted twice to give the Chill a narrow 13-12 lead heading to the third.

With his four players gasping for air, Griffiths signed two more Lynx members for the final period, Richard Wanamaker and Tim Long. Strangely, this seemed to lower the team’s level of play. Brennan MacDonald’s power play goal tied it, then was followed seconds later by a Sullivan tally. After Joyce’s seventh goal of the night made it 15-13, Sullivan rifled a shot home from the slot with 2 seconds remaining to become the only player in League history to record hat tricks for both teams in the same game.

This feat was made even more remarkable when it was later revealed that Sullivan was playing his last game in the ADC FHL. He is on his way to Winnipeg after, he says, receiving an offer to play for the Jets. (“ He was so excited, I didn’t have the heart to tell him the Jets left town 8 years ago” said one teammate).

The Lynx-Lite-Sabre match turned out to be anti-climactic, and also featured several no-shows. One of these was Sabres Captain Chris McMaster, who was scratched due to the flu. Mark Leblanc and Matt Blades led the way for the Lynx with 8 points each in the 14-8 win. The most excitement the Sabres could generate was with two stick challenges, neither of which was successful. The Lynx take over the League’s top spot with 13 points.

Notes

Sullivan played four-and-a-half seasons, the first four with the Lite-Sabres, with whom he won three championships…The Lynx are now unbeaten in their last 6 regular season games versus the Lite-Sabres…The Sabres were also playing without Chad Griffin and Spiro Bokolas, their two leading scorers…The Lynx were 2-for-4 on the power play