Dynamite and Blizzard Draw in a 4-4 Thriller

On Saturday night the Dynamite hosted the league leading Colorado Blizzard in their home opener, in front of around 350 fans at the APEX Fieldhouse.  The Dynamite came out fighting, looking much sharper than they did in their league opener against FC Denver.  After having the majority of the opportunities in the first quarter, the Dynamite were the first to get on the board with a Tony Avery goal, assisted by Robert Garcia with two minutes remaining.   

In the second quarter, the Colorado Blizzard would strike back in a big way, showing why they are the defending division champions and current leaders.   Mitch Lobdell got it started for the Blizzard, evening the score 1-1 with 10:30 left on the first half clock.  Four minutes later with the Blizzard attack now in full force, Jesus Ramirez with his back to the goal, deflected in a blistering John Molet shot off the inside of his leg to give the visitors their first lead.  Only a minute later Eric Goldberg would score, assisted by Clayton Zelin to extend the Blizzard lead to 3-1.  With three minutes remaining in the half, Jesus Ramirez would give the Blizzard a 4-1 lead.  Going into the break, it appeared that Colorado had all the momentum. 

Only four and a half minutes into the third quarter, the Dynamite received their sixth team foul and would have to kill a 2 minute penalty.   As time ran out on the Blizzard power play, Tony Avery sprinted off the bench to receive a Mike Ogletree pass on his way to scoring a breakaway goal.  The third quarter would end without another score. However the Dynamite had chipped away at the lead, trailing 4-2.  

After killing a Dynamite power play at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Blizzard would be awarded a second penalty after a Jay Hamilton blue card, only to have Mike Ogletree steal a Blizzard pass and score a breakaway shorthanded goal with 11:40 remaining on the clock.  Not only did the Dynamite kill the power play, but they now found themselves within one goal.  With 4:09 remaining, Blizzard Forward Michael Archuleta was given a 5 minute major penalty and a red card for violent conduct.  The Dynamite would have the man advantage for the rest of the match, or until they scored.  With 2:02 remaining, the Dynamite also brought in Jay Hamilton as the 6th attacker.  After a few near misses, the Dynamite got the equalizer with 58.8 seconds remaining in the match, as Keegan Miller assisted on a Travis Carey goal.  The buzzer sounded with the game ending in a 4-4 stalemate.   

It was a highly spirited and competitive match, and without a doubt the best game of the season so far.  The Dynamite showed great resolve after going down 4-1 to earn a tie.  Tony Avery led the Dynamite attack with 7 shots and 2 goals.  Mike Ogletree played a key role on defense for the Dynamite after missing the season opener.   The Dynamite hope this will be a building block, as they look to avenge a US Arena open cup loss against the CSC Cavalry next Saturday, at 8:00pm in Monument.