Blades barely beat Gladiators

A shocker, just a few minutes into 1. period Gladiators goal by Higgins and Galivan. But Blades Brandon Buck ("Bucky"), here with # 84 (a good omen?- one thinks immediately of Corey Locke and his goals), and Capraro and Zanon made it 1:1. Neither team could convert several power plays into goals, but in the 2. period Blades' Nicholson with Roy and Thelen made it Blades 2.
Capraro with Gajic and Zanon had the 3. goal for the Blades in the 3.
But the Gladiators would not let up, furious onslaughts on Brust in goal, did give the Gladiators their 2. goal by Caruana and Berti. And that was it..
Everblades 3 with 34 SoG and Gladiators 2 with 33 SoG.
Both teams skated well, passed well, had even goal opportunities, with the Gladiators revving it up in the third.
Both teams had adequate defense. Especially Blades#5 Olson , despite loosing his stick, during a Brust absence from the crease,did get the puck away from the danger zone ;-).

Little time and effort, that I could see, was spent in slamming into the boards. Tripping, slashing, high sticking and interference were most of the penalties called, except for one call for 'diving? on Carlson, a Blade. However with just 20 seconds to end of 3. Hartlieb (Blade #9) and (sounded like #29 Siddall?) went at each other wrestling to the ice and were promptly expelled, this I felt was stupid.. it would not change anything. Why fight late in the game- that serves no purpose, IMO.
Barry Brust in gaol had some spectacular saves after he let in the first goal by the Glads. During the 2. he seemed a bit bored, but had to make up for it in the third when the Gladiators went all out. Barry Brust served up some slapshots as well, only missed a couple times to be cited for an assist in a goal...LOL. Barry stopped 31 of 33 shots on gaol.
On the Blades side, several impressed with speed and coordination, the 'Twins'(by noses), Nr. 9 (Hartlieb) and Nr. 84("Bucky") did so several times.
On the Glad side Hurley #4 had incredible speed and did a run down the ice, that was outstanding, he almost got the rebound as well. Danny Taylor in goal for the Glads at 5'11" one of the smaller goalies, did remarkably well, stopping 31 of 34. Pix will follow after our return.

Alas, Brust skipped out the back way avoiding the Houston fans? Sorry, Ms. C. no personalized anything for you!
But we did manage to exchange a few words with 'Bucky (who kindly personalized his autograph of his Aeros #16 pix for Aleta), Kevin Baker (Blades C) who had complimentary words of Brust, but admitted that the Glads were formidable opponents, and Zanon (who had been at Aeros Camp).
Earlier in the day we saw the eagles, what a sight! And assorted critters! And we observed the sign 'Do not feed the alligators', so just took a couple of photos. Now I've got to check on Aeros vs. Abbotsford game...
And tomorrow it's off to Tampa for some lightening -Tampa Bay Lightening that is.. the moonshine I leave for others.