Lions Finding Their Roar

This season has been a mixed bag for the Lions.  They have been a middle of the pack team which had not been able to string two wins together in a row until their last two wins vs the Evergreens and Norsemen respectively.  The winning streak (if you are willing to call it that, and I assure you, the Lions are), coincided with the return of Jake Rankin who had missed a considerable amount of time due to injury.

The Greyhounds, the Lions adversary for the night, were playing a similar season, having back to back wins just once and were sitting on a win, looking to get another streak going.

It wasn't a big bang of a start for either team as they both made good use of their defence to keep shots to the outside.  Then Scott Stewart and Keegan Lewis got a break.  Stewart took the puck into the zone down the right wing and Lewis went to the net.  A pass was sauced over the Lions defender's stick and landed right on Keegan's tape.  He took a shot as Jamie Wutke moved across the net.  The puck went along the ice, across the grain, and clanged off the base of the post.  The puck bounced directly into the pads of Wutke who held on.

Matt Gendron broke the deadlock when he stepped across the line and fired a wrister that beat Trevor Pate just below his glove.  The 1-0 lead held until the second period when Jake Rankin was following the play to the net as a Greyhounds defenceman bumped the Lions Dave Matthews into Pate.  Rankin had a wide open net and made no mistake to extend the lead to 2-0 as the puck jumped out to him.

Later in the period, Rankin got himself another scoring chance, this time he would need to actually beat the goalie.  One on one, Rankin came in on Trevor Pate.  Jake made a move to the right and sent the puck back to the left and Pate threw out a massive windmill to deny Rankin.

Later that same shift, the Lions worked the puck forward and Rankin was still buzzing around getting chances,  the puck came to him in the slot and his shot was partially stopped by Pate, but it trickled just over the line to make it 3-0 for the Lions, and Jake was able to brush off getting stoned on the breakaway.

While a shutout would have been the preferred way for Jamie Wutke to end the game, Michael Lawless had other plans.  He stripped the puck in the Lions zone and sniped above the shoulder of Wutke with a laser beam of a shot.

The Lions would extend their winning streak to 3 games with the 3-1 win and have moved themselves into a position where they could possibly finish as high as third place, though they will need some help, including from the rink next door.

On RBC rink C, the Evergreens, struggling as of late, had the Aurora to play.  The Evergreens were on a 3 game slide, their most recent win coming against these same Aurora, while the Aurora were coming off a 3-2 loss to the surging basement dwelling Eurekas, and in desperate need of redemption.

The game had a playoff vibe from puck drop.  These teams came to play, the three points on the line important.  Shane Whitman opened the scoring with his third of the year as he took a shot which went off an Aurora stick and sailed over Aurora goaltender Logan MacLean, unable to adjust to the redirection.

Both goalies were making some big saves as the top guns were firing.  Frustration was as thick as the intensity, and Landon Miron released some of his when he got loose in the slot and stole Logan's soul as he took a wrister that was hard enough for 3rd place in the hardest shot competition.  He whizzed it past the ear of Logan twice as it came out of the net and past the tendy nearly as quickly as it had entered.  2-0 Evergreens 11 minutes in.  The Aurora, feeling like the loss to the Eurekas was where their good season had ended and defeats were to become commonplace, needed to turn it around.

With under 3 minutes to go in the first, Matt Simpson found a little hope for the Aurora.  Noah Joncas chipped the puck up to him and he went down the wing, burning Jonny Bamford like he should all those valentines from his ex girlfriend that he secretly keeps in a shoebox under his bed, and then a nice shot off the far post and in.  The Simpson's theme song played throughout the rink.  2-1 Evergreens.

We entered the second period with the teams trading chances but Durnford and MacLean still making big saves.  The Aurora were pushing the play more than the Evergreens and the pressure finally released when Chris Stickings went to the slot.  David Lacey won a draw forward and Matt Simpson picked the puck up, spinning and finding Stickings whose quick shot beat the glove of Durnford to tie it up.

In the Aurora's previous game, the Eurekas has a lead late and David Lacey tied it up to force the shootout.  Well, Lacey did it again, this time to get the Aurora the lead with just 2:44 to go, and all because the Evergreens defenceman made a nice play to disrupt a Matt Simpson pass.  The blocked pass from Simpson to Lacey meant that Aidan Durnford had to adjust three times as he started moving to Lacey, had to go back to Simpson, and then as Simpson passed again, he had to go back to Lacey, all in a short span.  The final move wouldn't be quick enough as Lacey's goal was at the right time.

The Evergreens pulled their goalie and tried to tie it up.  Instead, the Aurora got the puck and moved up ice.  Silas Bonnell was the last man back and he played the shooter, Matt Simpson.  While Simpson could have been selfish like normal, he decided to pass to his captain.  Lacey got the pass and with the easy empty netter from 6 feet out, he scored to give himself a 3 point night, and 4 points to Simpson.  That's what I should be writing, but Lacey fucked it up hardcore.  He could have very easily shot the puck into the empty net, hell, he could have skated the puck right across the goal line, he had enough time with 9 seconds left and no-one between him and the net, but no, he shot the puck off the outside of the post, shit himself a little, then desperately hunted for the puck in the corner.  But it was too late, the buzzer went.

The Aurora win moves them into a tie for first with the Osprey (2nd with tiebreakers) and the Osprey still to play this week.  Those teams have an epic battle slated for next week, so watch out for that one.  The Evergreens loss gives hope to the Lions, as they remain just two points back of them and the Norsemen (yet to play this week).  There is nothing locked up in the standings just yet, so these last few games will be important.