Kawai Peahu netted four goals and Austin Taylor added two scores as the Devils edged out Team Todd in the first of the Bantam division playoffs, Thursday at the Kapa‘a rinks. Kawai opened the scorebooks eight minutes into play with
Kawai Peahu netted four goals and Austin Taylor added two scores as the Devils edged out Team Todd in the first of the Bantam division playoffs, Thursday at the Kapa‘a rinks.
Kawai opened the scorebooks eight minutes into play with his first goal, and Cyd Sitzler followed with a score just about three minutes later for an early 2-0 lead.
But with a little more than three minutes remaining in the half, Noah Leggett found the net for Team Todd, which trailed 2-1 at halftime.
The Devils came back to outscore Team Todd 5-3 in the second half, Peahu icing the win on a goal with 45 seconds remaining in the match.
Joining the Devils’ scoring leaders, Sitzler finished with a goal and an assist, and Lauren Spears added an assist to Peahu’s second-half goal that came at the 11:27 mark.
Ben Steuri paced the Team Todd effort with two goals, with Leggett and Cascade Mayer netting a goal apiece. All goals were unassisted. Mayer’s physical play drew her a pair of roughing penalties in the first half.
Stephanie Steuri finished with 32 saves as the Team Todd goalkeeper, while Iki Punua had 31 saves tending for the Devils.
The Kaua‘i Inline Hockey Association continues its playoffs this weekend with games tonight and Sunday afternoon at the rink at Kapa‘a New Park.
In earlier playoff action, Cubeiria Gkolu had two goals and an assist, Josh Lakatos had two goals, and Luke Boyd had a goal and three assists in the second half to outscore the Green Squirts, 6-5, Tuesday night, in Kaua‘i Inline Hockey Association playoff action at the Kapa‘a New Park rink.
But that effort fell short as the Green Squirts held off the comeback effort from the Red Squirts, Gkolu’s last goal coming in the final minute of play on a Boyd assist as the Red squad prevailed 10-9 in the first of the playoff games for the Kaua‘i Inline Hockey Association.
After being postponed twice due to rains, the game was finally played under the lights at the Kapa‘a rink, where Boyd finished with two goals and three assists in the effort. Edward Punua was held to just two first-half goals, and La‘akea Cubereira added one goal in the effort. Jessica Mowery finished with an assist.
Shannon Sitzler had the hot stick, netting a game-high four goals to lead the Green Squirts win, followed by Kainalu Gandia finishing with a hat trick. Victor Sanchez added two goals and Kalena Harder had a goal in the win. All of those goals were unassisted.
Tomas Sanchez, goalkeeper for the Green Squirts, finished the night with 17 saves. T.J. Mowery handled the goalkeeping chores for the Red Squirts, making 25 saves.
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
