And We’re Off

It feels like ages ago that the Nomad Cup was being lifted by the Eurekas after defeating the Osprey in a thrilling overtime game.  The two teams that last played were the first to get the chance to test out their new rosters as this new season began last night.

The Eurekas were without their Captain Shannon Farrell, and their first round pick Matt Peters, and were facing the Osprey with their nearly full lineup, including their first round (second overall) pick Matt Ryder.  It was Ryder that opened the season's scoring as he walked off the half boards and fired a shot in past Ashton Speight on the glove side, just past the 10 minute mark of the first period.  Bobby Sacre doubled the lead when he rushed the puck end to end and made a beauty of a deke around Speight, tucking the puck in on the backhand as he reached around the sprawling goaltender.

Alex Chisholm got one back for the Eurekas when Alternate captain Ryan Kinley fed him the puck from behind the net.  It looked for a moment like the game was going to be tied as Jordan Kenny stepped over the blue line and shot the puck off the crossbar through a screen, but the crossbar isn't in, and the Osprey took a one goal lead into the 2nd.

Nathan Bessey fired a shot off the pad of Speight and in to open the second period scoring for the Osprey, followed by a Taylor MacKay backhand chip shot on the power play, and Matt Ryder then getting his own rebound off the post.  Jeff Snow would cap off the scoring when his half clapper from the top of the circle beat Matt Baird on the blocker side.

The Osprey took home a 5-2 win but the big story was how well Ashton Speight performed for the Eurekas.  He may have allowed 5 goals, but he made a lot of massive saves including the article photo where he recovered from giving the puck away behind his own net, got out in front and stole what looked like a sure goal.  If the Eurekas can find a way to put more pressure in their opponents, their goaltending could steal some wins for them.

Game 2 of our opening night double header was between the Norsemen and Greyhounds. Connor Tousignant, the Greyhounds leader in scoring last season, was the one to get the floodgates opened up in this one, but for his new team, the Norsemen.  He picked up the puck in his own end and rushed it up the ice, staying on the right wing.  As he got near the net, he fired a wrister off the far post and in, past Jonny Prall.

After a hard collision between Blake Whebby and Michael Lawless that sent Lawless flying into the end boards and dislodging his helmet, with no penalty call, the Norsemen's Kurt Sampson took a neutral zone tripping penalty, and what some were calling a make-up call.

The Greyhounds took just under a minute to capitalize on their opportunity as Ashley Leonard found the puck in front, taking a couple shots, he popped in the game tying goal.  The tie would not hold.  Keaton Hicks had a massive effort as he shot the puck and saw the rebound sliding away to the left of Prall.  He dove for it, and with nearly no angle to get it in, he swiped the puck into the net to restore the lead.  He'd score again on the same shift as the Norsemen were giving it their all.

The next goal was a weird one.  Derick Levesque fired a point shot that hit Phil Sprague in the head.  The puck popped up and over the goaltender and into the net.  The rule is that the play will be blown dead if it goes off the goaltender's head, so no play can be made on the puck, however, a shot off the goaltender's head and directly into the net counts as long as it isn't touched, as happened in this play.

Just 18 seconds later, Nick Marshall got the puck on what had looked like a broken play and he roofed that thing to tie the game once more.  But again, the tie would not hold, and just 24 seconds later, Ryan DeWolfe scored his first goal in the league and the Norsemen wouldn't look back.  Blake Whebby's top shelf goal with 2:01 left in the first, would make it 5-3 for the Norsemen after 1.

Josh Stevens would score twice in the second period as he took the league lead in points home with him, or rather he took the league lead in points fishing at midnight after the game.

A commanding 9-4 win on opening night for the Norsemen, without a few of their defencemen, bodes well for Blake Isenor's team going into the season, but there are still 20 games to be played before playoffs and who knows what kind of action we will see as the season progresses.  No matter what it is, we are going to be in for an interesting season.

Opening night 2 is a game between the Tigers and Aurora at 10:15pm.