Blowouts and Blowups

It was a rare situation where a Nomad team was playing games on back to back nights, but the Norsemen were happy to get the chance to bounce back after a trouncing the night before where they didn't manage a goal, and the Greyhounds were sitting on the trolley tracks, they just didn't know it yet.

Not much happened in the first couple shifts, but then, at 13:15, Norsemen defenceman Michael Bourgeois got a good chance in the slot and shot glove side, but the puck dinged off the post.  A minute later Calum MacKinnon gave the puck away at 12:10 and sent Greyhounds forward Adam Jarvis in on a 2 on 1 with Nick Marshall.  Jarvis elected to shoot, but Phil Sprague made the save.

Michael Cunningham in his bright yellow helmet, took a pass from Keaton Hicks with 8 minutes left in the first, and he made a great pass to Kurt Sampson in the slot.  Kurt was playing his first game on forward and he quickly shot the puck along the ice, beating Trevor Pate for his first NHL goal.  The only player on the Norsemen to not score a goal this season is defensive specialist Blake Isenor.

Sampson's goal opened the floodgates as the Norsemen went to the powerplay and Josh Stevens scored, then Keaton Hicks on a breakaway went blocker side.  The Norsemen were carrying the bulk of the play, but the Greyhounds were stealing chances here and there.  A nice pass from Adam Jarvis to Nick Marshall at the side of the net, after taking Sprague out of the play, and Marshall couldn't believe it as he sent the puck off the post and out the other side.

The Norsemen had 17 shots to the Greyhounds 8 after 1, and led by a score of 3-0.  The second period would continue this trend as Josh Stevens scored his second of the game, and then Calum MacKinnon finished off some nice passing, though it is hard to know if Blake Whebby was passing or shooting the puck that he tapped in back door.  Whebby was definitely shooting with 1:39 left in the game when he scored from the ringette line with a laser of a wrister.

Even though they wouldn't get the win, the Greyhounds second period would have more chances, and with 6:19 left, Adam Jarvis would take a rebound and with a net as open as Marshall had, he shot it in.  Sprague had reached back and it went off his stick and into the top shelf.  He was that close to a shutout.  The 6-1 Norsemen win would put them in 3rd and a likely matchup with the same Greyhounds.  Connor Tousignant managed a single assist on the night, enough to tie him for the league lead with Nathan Bessey who plays tonight.

The other game of the night was between the Evergreens and Eurekas and this thing got out of hand.  Mid game, Landon came over to the other rink looking for something to cover the bleeding on his face as he took the knob of Ashton Speight's stick in the mouth.

By the time I got there, it was 6-0 for the Evergreens, and I'm not going to go through all the details when one team is blowing out another.  The Evergreens then scored twice more and it was 8-0 when Kyle Publicover was forechecking hard and Tyler Carr to exception, and hit him into the end boards.  A melee ensued and some gloved punches were thrown, and a crosscheck to the face happened, and players got tossed.  Needless to say, the Suspension Council will be holding a meeting today.

The Evergreens went to the power play and scored twice more during the major to make it 10-0.  Glen MacDougall also had a breakaway for the Eurekas during this time with Jeff Snow joining him for a 2 on 0.  Glen deked himself out and didn't manage to get a shot on goal.  That's just the kind of night the Eurekas were having.  

For the Evergreens, Landon Miron had a hatty and 2 assists for a 5 point night, James Harrison went 2G 2A, Kyle Gouthro got a goal, 2 assists, and tossed out for the Jack MacAulay hat trick (not that Jack ever managed to do all three in a game). And Silas Bonnell looked to steal his dad's nickname by getting three apples.

The Evergreens win means they will face the Lions in round 1 of the playoffs starting next week.  The Eurekas will face either the Osprey or Aurora, but we may not know which of those two until tomorrow night.