Opening Night of the Finals is a Nail Biter

The Eurekas polished off the Greyhounds in two straight games after losing game 1 of their first round series against the Tigers, following which they won the next two, so they were on a 4 game winning streak and looking to make it 5.  They were the more rested team as the Osprey had played two games since the Eurekas booked their place in the finals.  The Osprey conversely were dressing less than 24 hours after an absolute battle of a series vs the Aurora the culminated in a deciding game 3 on the large ice surface of rink D at the RBC centre the night before.  Injury plagued and with only 10 skaters, 2 of whom wouldn't have been fit to play a regular season game, the Osprey were riding the high that comes with winning a series.

Contrasting heavily with the game the night before, the Eurekas and Osprey were playing hard, but it was all between the whistles.  The Eurekas Matt Ryder had the first opportunity of the game as he got in alone and deked, but someone managed to miss putting the puck in.  Then an early Osprey chance on their first shift saw sniper Garrett Murray break through his check and alone against JK MacAdam in the Eurekas goal.  With a hard low shot, it looked like the game was going to be 1-0 early, but JK stoned him by getting the paddle down.

The play was back and forth for the first little bit and neither team could muster too much in the way of great scoring chances.  There was only one penalty called and even that one was questionable as Bobby Sacre took down Nathan Bessey, the latter of whom was quoted later saying "it shouldn't have been a penalty, he gave me a little push and the ice was bad in that spot and I went down".  No scoring came of it in the end, though the Osprey may have found some momentum off the kill.  On the following shift, Jamie Richard carried the puck into the Eurekas zone, and with Jonny Bamford and Matt Ryder pressuring him, he dropped the puck to Michael Lawless who spun off a Bobby Sacre check immediately, throwing the puck towards the goal in the same motion.  Jamie Richard was curling out from the corner at the exact right moment as he grabbed the puck before it reached the net and took it across the net and onto his backhand, making a quick move to slide it into the gaping net to give the Osprey the lead.

The next goal was a bit of a weird one as Bobby Sacre took a shot that Dan Theueurkauf saved and redirected over the net.  The puck struck a stanchion and instead of bouncing the expected way to the corner, it popped out to the side of the net and right to a waiting Matt Ryder who scored one of his easist goals of the season to knot the game at one.

The game was opening up now as the teams suddenly felt an urgency to score that hadn't been there minutes earlier.  Michael Lawless
jumped on a misplayed puck in front of the net to beat an unprepared JK low blocker to score for the Osprey.  Only 35 seconds later, Shawn MacIntosh picked off a clearing attempted and wound up a slapshot from the top of the circle which was perfectly placed to the glove side of JK, just above the pad and it was 3-1 Osprey.

The Eurekas put the Ryders/Peters line out and the game took a 180 degree turn.  A Bobby Sacre shot on goal was tipped by Matt Ryder but saved, and as the rebound popped out, Ryder poked it past the waiting defenceman and went around him and the goaltender and once again had an open net to shoot at.  The Eurekas won the next faceoff and took the puck deep into Osprey territory and worked their cycle.  Matt Peters passed it from the corner up to Chris Ryder near the point, Chris fired a shot towards the net as brother Matt skater towards him and reaching back, he made a gorgeous tip and the puck found a small hole to the left of Theueurkauf's glove as he stood no chance.  In a matter of 2 minutes and 9 seconds, the game went from 1-0 for the Osprey to a 3-3 tie and it was anyone's guess what kind of final score we would be looking at, but the first period buzzer would sound with the game tied.

The Osprey we're looking tired on their bench while the Eurekas were looking invigorated.  All season long they have been a team to start games late, to often come from a small deficit and rally for a big win.  Now. They don't normally start as late as Nick Horne did on this night as he appeard part way through the second having missed the game time in captain Jonny Bamford's email.

The second period was off to a quick start as both teams tried to find the 4th goal to get ahead, but neither team could find the scoring chances that were available at the end of the first.  Brandon Marsh was looking like the man to find the lead as he had the whole side of the net open, but JK threw out his left leg and denied Marsh on the doorstep.

The game would remain tied until late.  Chris Ryder took advantage of an Osprey defenseman stumbling and he went up the right wing and took a wrister that was labelled for the short side and the Eurekas had their first lead of the game.  The Osprey were struggling to find their way into the right spots to score until Nick Horne delivered a pizza right up the middle to Nathan Bessey.  Bessey had the puck from his own blue line and was being chased down the whole way by Bobby Sacre.  Sacre was closing the gap quickly from the right so Bessey veered to the left and let loose a shot as Sacre's stick was about to interrupt him.  The shot to tie the game for the Osprey with 2 minutes left on the clock, the shot to turn the tide of the game in their favour, the shot to... hit MacAdam in the midsection.  

It wasn't looking very promising for the Osprey and they did what everyone does when down by a goal late, they pulled their goalie.  With the extra attacker on, the Osprey had a little more of a chance to get open, and Jamie Richard found an open teammate in the slot.  That teammate was Bessey, looking to erase the pain of a missed scoring chance, he one timed the pass and buried it in the back of the net as his girlfriend cheered loudly.  He threw his head back in relief, the failures erased, his team was back to level with just 35 seconds left.  

This game was going to overtime.  The whole crowd started whispering as the starting lineups for OT stepped up to the face off circle and Matt Peters and Matt Ryder remained in the Eurekas bench, and Garrett Murray and Jamie Richard stayed on the Osprey bench.  

At 4 on 4, it was anyone's guess who would be the hero, but it was everyone's guess that we would learn their identity quickly.  Max Dewey had the first scoring chance for the Osprey as he entered the zone, two defenders on him, he somehow managed to get a slapshot off as he crossed the blueline, a bit of an interesting choice, but the shot was being guided by the hockey gods and before anyone had realized what had happened, the puck went under the arm of JK and hit the mesh and the Osprey bench emptied (all 6 of them) and they celebrated at the blue line.

These teams will play game 2 on Tuesday night at 9:00 and the Nomad Cup will be in the house as the Osprey are one win away from repeating as champions.  The Eurekas are no strangers to adversity and will be coming out with everything they've got as they seek one more winning streak to end their season.  No matter who wins next week, you know it's going to be exciting hockey.