Greyhounds Get Ryder Rolled

Our final game of the week was the Early Thursday Nighter between the Osprey and Greyhounds.  There wasn’t a shot on goal for nearly two minutes but when it came, it was off the stick of Matt Ryder and he put it off the post and in.

 

The Osprey got another goal when Bobby Sacre took a shot from the point and Dylan MacDonald accidentally tipped it into his own net.  Top shelf, it was a beauty.  

Bobby returned the favour when he let Nick Marshall strip the puck from him (Marshall even said Thank you) and went in and fired a rocket of a shot past the glove of Matt Baird.  Off the ensuing draw Marshall came in with the same play but rang it off the post.

The Osprey led in shots 17-10 and the score 2-1 after the first and the second.  The Osprey continued to press the play and Matt Ryder was at it again.  After a failed shot returned to him, he shot from the high slot and right along the ice, he beat Pate five-hole.  The goal marks Matt Ryder’s 100th goal in the Nomad Hockey League, the first player to reach that milestone.

Big Rich tried to act like he had scored at 8:18 of the period, but the refs were on in and called it off for being kicked in.  Then the Osprey responded when Branden Rankin fired a shot on goal which was redirected in by Bobby Sacre, doing his best defensive work in front of the Greyhounds goal.

Then Kurt Thibault looked to be scoring a beauty as he cut across the goal mouth, pulling Pate with him, he reached around and shot at the empty net, but the puck went right through the crease and hit a Greyhounds player on the other side of the net, and he cleared it.

Nathan Bessey stole a puck from a Greyhounds clusterfuck at their own blue line and he skated in alone.  His wrister was turned away easily by the blocker of Trevor Pate.  Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, on the same shift, they had another defensive issue down low and Branden Rankin stole the puck and found Bessey all by himself in front of the net.  He didn’t take long to put it over the glove and into the net to make it 5-1 for the Osprey.

Scott Stewart had a great scoring chance for the Greyhounds when he went in on a partial breakaway but was denied by Baird, then the rebound came back to him and he had way too much time.  He tried moving around Baird then sending it through the legs, but Baird kept them closed.

An Osprey penalty actually ended up having a great scoring chance short handed as Keith Webb was taking his sweet ass time on the backcheck and the puck got turned over and sent his direction.  With 5-7 business days of time by himself, he chose to try the Forsberg, but Pate reached back and got the stick on it to keep the puck out.  The play inspired the Greyhounds and they turned it up.  They maintained pressure and had a bunch of good shots on goal.  With 1:41 to go, Jeff Miles skated hard with Nathan Bessey in pursuit.  As Bessey looked to be in a good enough position to lift Miles’ stick, Jeff released a shot which was a heavy one.  The puck went along the ice and right through Baird’s legs to make it 5-2 Osprey.

Cameron Bissell had a good chance as well, and he got in alone on Baird and beat him 5-hole, but he didn’t beat the post.  Then after countless chances, Derick Levesque came in full speed and froze Baird, firing a wrister top glove side with just 11 seconds to go.  It simply was too little, too late, as the Osprey’s 5-3 win puts them alone in first place.