The Cup is in the Building

After a thrilling 5-4 Overtime win for the Osprey in game 1, they were looking for a repeat championship on Tuesday night, but the Eurekas were not going to go down without a fight.

The teams both arrived early for the game and took advantage of the open ice, getting a longer warmup than usual.  Even Kyle Ervin got a few minutes of warmup time.  

Once the puck was dropped, both squads looked dialed in, fully focused on the task at hand, and it was the Eurekas with early pressure.  Before the Osprey had a shot on goal, the Eurekas had 4.  Matt Peters had the 5th one and it came off a pass from Matt Ryder.  Peters had space and took a wrister that caught Theueurkauf between the body and his blocker arm, just barely finding its way through and into the net.  The early lead for the Eurekas goes against their usual game plan of lulling the competition into a false sense of hope before a second period goal explosion.

The Eurekas were protecting the lead well, preventing the Osprey from finding their way into their zone or towards their net, but they weren't pushing for a second goal very hard either, and we all know how that ends.  Max Dewey scored the OT winner in game 1 and he found a little space and beat JK to level the game 5 minutes after his Osprey went down by 1.  The game play went up a notch immediately.  Both Dan Theueurkauf and JK MacAdam started seeing pucks at a higher rate as the teams seemed to realize that this was not going to end with a 2-1 score.

It was a usual name who got on the board next, as Alex Bethune dropped a puck to Matt Ryder and Ryder put it through Theueurkauf and into the Osprey goal to restore the Eurekas lead.  Garrett Murray erased the Eurekas lead as he fired a shot in past MacAdam and that was quickly followed up by a similar goal with a shot by Jamie Richard as the Osprey saw their first lead of the night at 3-2 with 4:24 left in the first, the two goals just 15 seconds apart.

Joey Richard took an interference penalty 10 seconds after the next draw and the Eurekas went to the power play.  The Osprey did everything to keep the puck away from the net but their goalie still needed to make two good saves as they managed to kill the penalty.  The score would remain 3-2 for the Osprey at the half.

With the shorter bench, the Osprey were trying to hold on to their fragile one goal lead, but their game play didn't change up too much as they knew some insurance was going to be needed.  JK was making the saves he needed to make for the Eurekas as he gave his team a chance to win.

Then it happened, a failed clearing attempt by the Osprey hit Matt Ryder in the foot with his back turned. He took possession and just before Keaton Hicks was able to knock it away, Ryder passed to Chris Ryder.  Chris made a nice move on the goalie who had to respect the shot, and then the puck was passed back door to Matt Peters who had the entire net open to him.  Peters took the shot and hit the far post, and the puck dropped into the goal and we were tied once more.

The Osprey took a hooking penalty off a faceoff in their zone and Matt Ryder would find some space by dekeing a few Osprey players, and then the goalie as he slid the puck along the ice to make it 4-3 for the Eurekas.  The back and forth game was leaving plenty of doubt as to who was walking away with this one.

The Eurekas were being pressured more than the Osprey but their defence was getting their sticks on everything, or in the case of Kyle Ervin, getting his arm on a Joey Richard slapshot, giving him another big bruise tomorrow to go with one from the previous round on the inside of his leg.  Ervin was having one of his best games of the year as the warmup was clearly showing its efficacy.

Garrett Murray battled for a puck in the Eurekas zone with 4 minutes left in the second and turned to find Keaton Hicks alone in the high slot.  Hicks took the pass and turned while winding up a half clapper which he let loose on MacAdam, beating him to the blocker side, and once again, the game was tied!

Was this going to be another overtime game in the finals?  When Nathan Bessey got the puck all alone in the slot, one of the best scoring chances of the night, it all seemed like it could be leaning in the Osprey's favour, but Matt Ryder dove back and took him down, taking a penalty on the play but also removing a scoring chance from the equation.  With just 3 minutes to play, the Osprey were heading back to the power play.

Now, one must remember that the Osprey had the worst power play of any team in the regular season, somehow finding the man advantage to be less advantageous than even strength play.  This would be no different as they failed to capitalize on the big chance at a big time in the game.  

Matt Ryder stepped out of the box as Bobby Sacre picked up the puck in his own end.  Sacred fired the puck to an open area and Ryder grabbed it and meandered into the Osprey zone with just Dave Matthews between him and the goal.  Sacre had followed the puck and was going full speed towards the net as Mat McLeod was trying to cover him.  The two players got tied up and McLeod went down hard, sliding into the net as Ryder took a shot from distance due to Matthews keeping him away from the net.  Theueurkauf dealt with McLeod sliding towards him and made a good pad save.

McLeod was angry about the non call, feeling it was a slew foot play, as well as getting hurt in the okay, he swung his stick at the boards in frustration as he went off the ice, he accidentally connected with teammate Joey Richard sitting in the bench.  With McLeod and Richard both down for the count and under a minute to play, the Eurekas took advantage.  Chris Ryder set himself up on the open side of the Osprey goal and Matt Peters made a perfect pass to him, and Chris made sure to bury it.  With just 27 seconds on the clock, the Eurekas had found the go ahead goal.

The Osprey pulled their goalie right away and managed to take the puck to the Eurekas zone.  Nathan Bessey won the puck in the corner and spotted Max Dewey in front.  He snapped a pass across to him but Kyle Ervin reached out and got the tip of his stick on the puck, knocking it away from Dewey.  The Osprey regained possession and Michael Lawless made a pass from behind the net but Matt Peters deflected it away and to the point it went, just seconds left on the clock.  Bessey got it at and wound up a shot, but Chris Ryder went down to block the shot as the horn sounded, the Eurekas hanging on to the lead to tie the series at 1.

Game 3 goes tonight at 9:30 and one way or another, someone is taking the Nomad Cup home.  Will it be Nathan Bessey of the Osprey again, or will Jonny Bamford win the Cup in his first season as a captain?  Come check it out, it promises to be a good game.