Rob Moylan blasted a hard wrist shot on goaltender Mike Pennell before Rita Wilcox sent the devastating blow of a rebound into the net to give the Checkers a 9-8 victory over the Bombers for the Kapolei Inline Hockey Association 35-and-over summer championship on Monday night.
Only six seconds remained before a possible overtime.
Wilcox and Moylan went to the bench as teammates finished off the final ticks.
The Checkers’ Rita Wilcox scored the winning goal in the KIHA O-35 summer championship game Monday.
(Image credit: Nick Abramo).
A few seconds after getting to the bench, Moylan said, “I stunned him,” with that shot.
A lifetime player with a ton of experience, Moylan was being humorous. Although it was a hard shot from the slot, he knows Wilcox being in the right place at the right time and executing that rebound shot was the hero play.
All of her teammates and most of the opposing Bombers congratulated Wilcox — who took up the game within the last few years — for the clutch goal.
Earlier, Mark Juriesich, Ryan Donohue and Brett Shady powered the offense for the Checkers. Shady finished with a hat trick and Donohue and Juriesich added two goals each.
In goal for the Checkers, Brian “Dubya” Bush picked up the win, making a bunch of clutch saves, including many of the highlight-reel kick variety.
Other winning Checkers team members are Ted White, Jason Tarr, James Smith and Nick Abramo.
The Checkers had two-goal leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 5-3, but fell behind temporarily at 7-6 before Abramo tied it up at 7 with a tip-in goal of a Tarr shot.
The Bombers were led by defensemen Shang Ong, Mike Shannon and Ken Dorner and forwards Mike Kawazoe, Scott Humber, Mike “The Pest” Betz, Hugh Khim, and Jason Graves.
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Throughout the six-game season, including the title game, the Checkers defeated the Bombers four times. The four wins were close, but the losses were blowouts of 9-3 and 9-5.
It was the first Over-35 season at KIHA for more than a year and came after a long COVID-19 shutdown.
KIHA, a two-rink facility, opened in Campbell Industrial Park in 2010. Since then (except for the March 2020 to March 2021 shutdown), there have been four seasons per year in five adult divisions and youth divisions from 8-and-under to 16-and-under. Go to KIHAwaii.com for more information.
The fall 2021 season starts July 12.
