Big Tilts in the Nomad Hockey League

It's just the second week of action, but 4 teams were looking to make their mark.  All 4 winners last week were in action, meaning two teams would start winning streaks, while two would have to start over next week.

The Norsemen defeated the Greyhounds with authority last week while the Aurora's win over the Tigers was with a less convincing score, but no less convincing an effort.  

A first minute beauty of a back door pass by Mike Bourgeois to Connor Tousignant opened the scoring for the Norsemen.  Bourgeois who said "if it's within 10 feet, it's a good pass in beer league", was fortunate that Tousignant has the wing span of a Cessna to get his pass.

Brandon Crowell evened the score at 10:24 as he fired a shot up on the short side of Phil Sprague that had no business finding such a small opening.  The cheers from the Aurora were short lived.  Just 24 seconds later, Blake Whebby came in against Mat McLeod and used him as a screen, whipping a wrister between his legs and off the far post and in as the Norsemen took the lead again.

Brandon Crowell got his second of the game to even the score once more, Mat McLeod picking up his second assist of the night on the goal.  With no more need of tying the game, Brandon Crowell would stop scoring for the evening and Matt Simpson would go to work.  Coming off hat tricks in back to back regular season games (going back to the summer), Simpson was looking to be the first player to record hat tricks in three consecutive games.

Simpson picked off a Norsemen pass from Tousignant and took the puck alone from his own zone, Blake Isenor in hot pursuit.  As he reached the slot, Simpson opted to shoot rather than risk Isenor catching him in a deke and the shot was perfectly placed, off the crossbar and in. 3-2 Aurora after 1.

The second period was less active on the score sheet, but there were lots of chances that the goaltenders denied as well as some post hits, including Simpson hitting the corner crossbar with just a few minutes left in regulation.  His bid at a hatty was not to be.  With their goalie pulled, the Norsemen worked to tie the score, but without Stephen Warwick in their lineup, they struggled to make it happen and then the worst possible thing happened, David Lacey scored on the empty net, making it a rare time where he actually hit the net.

The 4-2 win gives the Aurora the early league lead as they awaited the result on the other rink.

That other game was between the teams with the first two picks overall, the Evergreens and Osprey.  While the Norsemen's first goal was early at 47 seconds, the Osprey were much quicker to pot one at just 10 seconds in.  Matt Pellerin scored his first goal in the league high kn the glove side of Jonny Prall and promptly told his teammates "I'm gonna score 3 goals on 3 shots".  Spoiler alert, he would not.

The early goal was fairly indicative of the play as the Osprey would spend a lot of time in the Evergreens zone throughout the night, putting up 7 shots on goal before the Evergreens could get their first.  Landon Miron nearly had a shot on goal early, as he fired one off the far post in the first minute, but it would be a few minutes before an Evergreens shot hit Matt Baird in goal.

5 minutes into the period, Ethan DeBruyn picked off an Evergreens pass at the blue line and made his way to the net.  He dangled a D and instead of taking the shot, he backhanded a pass over to Steve Power at the side of the net.  Power, a notorious goal non scorer, one timed the pass right into...the pads of Prall.

When the Osprey took their second penalty of the game, they actually increased their scoring chances.  Nathan Bessey went in on a breakaway all alone from his own blue line.  He took the shot from the hash marks, aiming five-hole, but Prall made the save and covered the rebound.  Then moments later, Bobby Sacre covered a lot of ground and tracked down Mykola Kravchenko, beating him to a puck and going in alone, but missing high.  The Osprey had more scoring chances than the Evergreens, but no shorty's.

Matt Pellerin got the puck in the corner and used some patience to find a pass option.  That option was Nathan Bessey, who quickly spotted Tayler Faulkner back door where he put the puck in to make it 2-0 for the Osprey.  Bessey would score his second of the season after winning a faceoff and heading to the net.  He tucked in a rebound around Prall to make it 3-0, which is how the period ended.

One goal was clawed back by the aevergreens just 45 seconds into the second period when Carter Nickerson banged at a rebound in the pads of Baird.

The Evergreens would hit a few crossbars, but not another puck would best Matt Baird who made 24 saves on 25 shots on the night.  At the other end of the rink, the Osprey were getting a lot of breakaways but Prall was making the saves.  It was the rebounds that became the problem as he would stop the first puck but no-one cleared the second one.  Nathan Bessey scored an identical goal to his first, then Nick Elford would put one in from the same spot.  Bessey, having never scored a hat trick in his NHL career, got a chance alone in the slot and he took the shot.  Prall made the save and the rebound dropped to his left.  With puck rolling, Bessey got it on his backhand and was able to flip it up and off the crossbar and in for the hatty.   The Osprey's 6th goal was the final one of the night with 11:47 left in the second period.

Prall would make 21 mostly scoring chance saves as the Evergreens drop to 1 and 1.  The Osprey's +8 goal differential has them in first place as they watch the remaining two games of the week with the Eurekas and Greyhounds seeking their first win tonight.