Zamboni Fucks Shit Up

I guess we have just been lucky so far, but up until this point, the Nomad Hockey League hadn't had any games delayed due to technical difficulties at the rink.

Arriving to the RBC Centre on Tuesday night, it was immediately apparent that something unusual was going on.  The parking lot was unusually full considering this reporter's late arrival time. Approaching rink C, there was a bunch of snow and water on the ice and it was quickly relayed to everyone unaware that the Zamboni had broken down and hot water poured onto the ice and melted a hole right through the ice sheet, exposing concrete.  The staff at the rink had to move a minor hockey game to rink B, which put our 10pm game behind schedule and our rink C game was in jeopardy.

Through discussions with the rink staff, we agreed they would check on the status of rink C after they flooded B before our game there.  The ice on C in the damaged area was still slushy, so our game moved to rink A at 10:45.  Thankfully the refs and players all agreed to stay to make everything happen.

Game 1 was between the Osprey and Evergreens in their second matchup of the young season.  Their first game ended with the Osprey securing a 6-1 win.  Despite the seemingly easy win the first time, the Osprey struggled to generate chances early in game 2.  When one decent one did come about, rookie defenceman Mykola Kravchenko layed out his body with a big shot block on Nathan Bessey.

Bessey appeared to be feeling the weight of being the league's scoring leader, and he pushed hard to generate chances, but nothing was working.  It would be Landon Miron of the Evergreens breaking the scoring deadlock with his 5th of the season.  Then just a few minutes later, a puck was slowly going across the front of the Osprey goal.  For some reason Matt Baird didn't play it and Brock Bethune was there waiting.  Brock got the puck and quickly roofed it off the back bar with a hard shot, and the Evergreens went up 2-0 just before the 1st period ended.

The Evergreens were being a solid shut down team all game long, something the Osprey struggled to find their way through.  Being held off the scoreboard, Nathan Bessey called to his goaltender to come off for an extra attacker; "Mark!  Mark!! Maaarrkkk!" But no response.  But no worry, defenceman Kevin Myketyn had the solution; "Matt!", and Matt Baird come to the bench immediately as a forward hopped onto the ice and into the Evergreens zone. (Editor's note: Nathan has made claims that he wasn't saying "Mark" but rather pronouncing 'Baird' like 'Bard' due to his Newfiness, and since this reporter has heard him pronouncing it that way before, we are going to accept that as truth, but it's still funny that the boys thought he was saying "Mark").

It didn't take long for Matt Ryder to take advantage of the extra skater as he took a Matt Pellerin pass and brought the game within a goal.  They kept Baird out and pressed even harder for the equalizer, and the puck came to Matt Ryder at the side of the goal, an entire empty net at his mercy.  Ryder shot the puck into the net, but it wasn't quick enough.  The buzzer sounded just before he got the shot off and the Evergreens celebrated the win. These teams will need to wait until February for the rubber match.

Our second game, the extra late game, was between the winless Tigers and the Greyhounds, who came to play.  The very first shot on goal was by Adam Jarvis, and he put it in low on the blocker side just 13 seconds in.  It took 5 minutes for the Tigers to even get a shot on goal.  Nick Comeau was solid after that first shot, stopping a number of odd man rushes, but he couldn't be perfect.  Nick Marshall picked up speed and rushed the puck up the ice.  He blew past a defenceman and had a great look at the goal.  He fired his shot and Comeau got most of it, but it trickled down under his arm and fell to the ice behind him.  Jeff Miles was skating his ass off to get to the net when that little present appeared like Christmas morning.  He banged it in to make it 2-0.

Earlier in the day, Dylan MacDonald and Norm Gallant made a wager.  The first to two goals this season, would win a family sized bag of Sour Patch Kids from the loser of the bet.  

With under 3 minutes left in the first period, Dylan MacDonald went on a coast to coast rush, beating all challengers, then he got to Norm Gallant.  Dylan burned him as he skated up the left wing and after burning Norm, he looked at Comeau.  Dylan fired a shot from a difficult angle and the puck flew through the hole at the back of Comeau's right knee, between the knee and the post.  Dylan is now close enough to tasty the SPK.

Norm Gallant tried incredibly hard to close the gap in the second, but he mostly couldn't find the net, but neither could any of his teammates.  Jamie Wutke, filling in as the goalie for the Greyhounds wasn't being tested too much, and in the end, it would result in a shutout for "Backup Goalie" as Rich Williams would add a goal for the Greyhounds to earn the 4-0 win.