Hasegawa, LeBlanc, & Harrison: Minus 1 in Big Tigers Win

The Eurekas may have had Captain Shannon in the lineup for the first time this season, but there were only 7 others in Eurekas jerseys as they faced a nearly full Tigers lineup on Wednesday night.

This was never going to end well for the Eurekas, let's just get that out of the way early.  The Tigers came out with energy that the Eurekas has trouble matching in the first shift let alone the last.  The shots on goal were quickly piling up on Jamie Wutke, filling in for Ashton Speight of the Eurekas.  Wutke was working his ass off and making a lot of saves, including some early odd man rushes.  It may come as no surprise then that the Tigers opened the scoring,  the only surprise being that it took over 4 minutes for it to happen as Ryland MacLellan scored on a rebound.  

On their third shot on goal, the Eurekas put one past Nick Stryniak who was filling in for Nick Comeau in a league first double backup goalie game.  The backhand shot over the glove side pad was celebrated and the goal put up on the board, but the goal was called off with the net having been dislodged.  

Wutke was keeping it close and made a huge diving blocker save on Dan Keays to keep it a one goal game, but the barrage didn't stop.  Eventually Cobee MacNaughton put the puck in the net, his first of 4 points on the night.

Shannon Farrell was sprung for a breakaway and deked Stryniak.  The puck ended up sitting right against the post and Jeff Snow beat everyone to it to get the Eurekas officially on the board.  Chad Hasegawa was nearly able to get to him but was a moment too late.  He and linemates Zack Harrison and Kris LeBlanc would be the only forwards on the ice for a goal against, and despite ample shots on goal, they would contribute absolutely nothing to the offensive outburst their team would bring to the table.  Norm Gallant was heard making phone calls to other GMs post game with reports of the word "trade" being thrown about.

It wound up being a 6 goal period for the Tigers including Norm Gallant making an ugly pass out front of the Eurekas goal.  Fortunately for him, Brad Kincade had some big shin pads that directed the puck into the net.

The second period would see 3 Tigers goals, including Ron Beaton completing the hat trick.  The talk around the water cooler however will surround Darren Ells.  It won't be about when he fumbled the puck when he was all alone in front, and then eventually got the handle and used some patience to get around the goalie and score.  No, that was nice, but it wasn't as nice as when he had a clear cut breakaway, in fact it was a 3 on 0, with the closest Eureka being 2 lines behind him, and Darren put himself offside.  That will be all he hears about for the next 5 months.

The game marked the highest recorded shot total in a Nomad Hockey League game so far as the Tigers would have 61 shots in goal to the Eurekas 16.  After the first period, those numbers were 35-9.  

It was the Tigers first win of their young season and they will aim to keep it going vs the Norsemen on Tuesday.  The Eurekas will seek their first win as they take on the Lions next Thursday