Goalies Are Back

In the 10:00 game, we had the Lions taking in the Eurekas, the latter of which was going to have their goalie back in the lineup for the first time since October 24th.  Ashton Speight had been making 50 saves a game at that time and his body clearly couldn't handle the action as he was put on the LTIR.  His activation sparked his club as they looked to find some magic as the playoffs quickly approach.

It was however the Lions, on a 3 game winning streak, who opened the scoring.  Kyle Weatherbee, taking the puck off the pads of Jamie Wutke after a save, saw Jamie Richard going deep and he threw the Hail Mary pass up ice.  Richard got the pass and went in alone.  He shot just over the pad and under the blocker of Ashton Speight to make it 1-0. 

Speight made some great saves after that, denying a few back door chances, and knocking the net off wherever he possibly could.  The Lions got a chance on the power play and the puck landed on the back of the net.  Jamie Richard knocked it off and passed it to Dustin Hall who made his way out front and skated around the crease and fired a shot back across the grain off the right post and in to make it 2-0.

Before the period was out, Rowan "Red Hot" Ayers, collected a rebound in front of Jamie Wutke and put it through him to break the shutout and make it 2-1 for the Lions.

Rob Emberley had a beauty of a snipe early in the second as he beat Speight to the blocker side just 18 seconds into the frame, then Jake Rankin was the recipient of a beauty of a feed from Kirk Levy in the back door.  Kirk had all day long and could have shot it himself, but chose the path of sharing.

Shannon Farrell would get one back for the Eurekas when she got the puck and about 14 minutes of time alone with it in front of the Lions goal.  She shot it under the blocker of Wutke to make it 4-2.  As time was ticking away the Eurekas Cody Meisner got a chance down low and he converted to make it 4-3, but that would be as close as the Eurekas could get and the Lions took the 4-3 win and a temporary lead over the Norsemen.

Those Norsemen were nearing the end of their game on the next sheet of ice with the game tied as then lions/Eurekas game ended.  But let's talk about how we got there.

Phil Sprague was back in net for the Norsemen and hoping to not get injured after a week this time around.  He was feeling pretty good and playing well between the pipes.  In front of him, Ryan DeWolfe and Connor Tousignant both found the back of the net in the first period as the Norsemen took the 2-0 lead.  Matt MacNeil and Ron Beaton would combine on a passing play that ruined the magic shutout return of Sprague with 2 minutes left in the first.

The second period was where shit was getting testy.  After each team took penalties, the Tigers would be short again, and MacNeil and Beaton would combine for a shorty, this time it was Ron Beaton finishing the play as the game was all tied up at 2.  This was about as the Lions were celebrating their win and hoping for a Norsemen loss.

Some nasty words were slung between Norsemen and Tigers players (reminder here that certain words can get you suspended, so don't forget that), and the Tigers responded with some physical play.  While at even strength. Stephen Warwick scored on a rebound to give the Norsemen the late lead with just 5:22 to go.  The Tigers should have been working their asses off to find a goal, but instead they found direct routes to the penalty box as Justin Langille decked a guy accidentally, but still a penalty, then Cobee MacNaughton took Connor Tousignant down from behind, and Norm Gallant drilled Calum MacKinnon.  

It all just meant that even though they tried pulling Nick Comeau, they struggled to find a way to generate chances to come back in the game, and the Norsemen held on to the 3-2 win, and stayed ahead of the Lions for 3rd place, though the Norsemen have a game in hand due to the rink closure last week.  The aevergreens drop to 5th for the time being as they await tonight's game vs the Greyhounds.