[GAME RECAP: W 5-2 vs Reapers](https://beerleagueb - Beer League Bullies

DEATH TAKES A NIGHT OFF

Beer League Bullies 5, Reapers 2 — Tue, Sep 1, 2026 — Rink 2, AFC

They call themselves the Reapers. Very intimidating. Big scary name, black jerseys, the whole bit. Then they showed up at Rink 2 and got tucked into bed by a team named after guys who drink beer.

Read the shot chart and you'd swear we got run out of the building — 34 shots against, 30 for, and a 14-6 hole in the third period. Read the scoreboard and we won by three. Both things are true, and the reason they're both true is standing in our crease with a .941 and a smirk.

FIRST PERIOD: FIFTEEN MINUTES OF NOTHING, THEN THE LOMBARDO SHOW

Fourteen minutes of hockey happened and nobody scored. Riveting stuff. Guys were reevaluating their life choices.

Then:

14:52 — CHRIS LOMBARDO, off a Denzel Que feed. 1-0.

15:50 — CHRIS LOMBARDO AGAIN, this time off Derek Combs wearing number sixty-nine, which is exactly the kind of assist he was always destined to record. 2-0.

Fifty-eight seconds apart. Steven Hansen went from a shutout to a nightmare in less time than it takes to piss between shifts.

SECOND PERIOD: THE FAMILY BUSINESS, THEN A COLD SHOWER

Jackson Contreras opened the frame by taking interference at 1:51. Then, apparently deciding he hadn't done enough for our cause, he took high-sticking at 12:02.

Forty-five seconds later — 12:47 — ANDY ADOLFSSON buries the power play off Chris Lombardo and Bill Lombardo. That's a Lombardo-to-Lombardo-to-Adolfsson goal, which means Thanksgiving dinner at that house is going to be insufferable. 3-0. Thanks for the assist, Jackson.

And then we got cute.

14:43 — the Reapers score, credited to "Home Unknown Player 1." That's what the sheet says. An anonymous phantom, a man with no name, a ghost who wandered in off the street, beat our goalie, and vanished into the night. Somebody find that guy and buy him a beer, he earned it more than anyone on their roster with an actual identity. 3-1.

18:02 — Contreras, the other Contreras apparently, since the box score lists him twice like the scorekeeper saw double, makes it 3-2 off Wilson and Notaro.

Then Bill Lombardo takes hooking at 19:02, twenty-two goddamn seconds from safety, and we go to the room clinging to a one-goal lead with a penalty to kill.

Rooms have been quieter.

THIRD PERIOD: KILL IT, THEN BURY IT

Killed the Lombardo penalty. Killed the whole night, actually — Reapers finished 0 for 2 on the power play.

3:44 — DYLAN TRUJILLO, off Kellen Hart and Bill Lombardo, who apparently decided to apologize for the penalty by immediately setting up a goal. 4-2. Breathing room.

Then the Reapers threw everything they had at us. Fourteen shots in the third period. They emptied the tank. They pressed, they cycled, they did everything right except the part where the puck goes in.

14:30 — KELLEN HART, off Andy Adolfsson and Kyle Sayon. 5-2. Lights out.

15:59 — Matt Sweeney takes hooking because of course he does. Killed that one too.

59:33 — Hansen goes to the bench for the extra attacker. Twenty-seven seconds of desperation hockey and not a damn thing to show for it.

THREE STARS

🥇 ZACHARY DAYTON (#37) — 32 saves on 34, .941, and every single one of them mattered. They outshot us all night, they owned the third period, and he refused to let it mean anything. This is a 5-2 win on paper and a heist in real life.

🥈 CHRIS LOMBARDO (#75) — 2G, 1A, three points, two shots on goal, two goals. Do that math and get back to me.

🥉 THE LOMBARDO/ADOLFSSON/HART CARTEL — Bill (2A), Andy (1G-1A), Kellen (1G-1A). Six of our thirteen points came out of that little clique.

Also on the sheet: Trujillo (G) · Que (A) · Combs (A) · Sayon (A)

Special mention: whoever's typing the roster wrote "Shawn Volchuck." Five games in this building, boys. Five. It's not that hard. He also had zero points, so maybe he earned it.

THE NUMBERS

1st 2nd 3rd T

BULLIES 2 1 2 5

Reapers 0 2 0 2

Shots: Reapers 34, Bullies 30 Power Play: Bullies 1/2 (50%) · Reapers 0/2 (0%) Penalties: 4 minutes each — clean, boring, whatever Goaltending: Dayton .941 — Hansen .833

THE TAKEAWAY

We got outshot, out-chanced, and out-worked in the third, and we still won by three. Sometimes that's a warning sign. Tuesday it was just a guy in a mask having the night of his life while the rest of us cashed in on a Reaper who couldn't stay out of the box.

The Grim Reaper's supposed to come for everybody. He got Dayton instead, and Dayton stopped him thirty-two times.

BULLIES. 🍺🏒💀