Nomad Cup Champion Crowned

Forget all that happened to this point, the Osprey and Aurora needed one win to be able to hoist the Nomad Cup as champions of the Nomad Hockey League.  There was no consensus as to who the favourite was to win, just a lot of people unsure, as the two best teams were fighting to the bitter end.

 

We began with some offensive time for the Osprey as they were buzzing around Logan MacLean’s goal.  The best chance came when Matt Ryder got open a minute in, and fired the puck wide as Logan made himself big and gave no net to shoot at. 

 

The scoring started early in this one and it came off a Matt Simpson shot from near the corner.  His shot was hard and linemate Ryan Clarke got a piece of the puck, changing its direction just enough to get by Nick Stryniak.

 

Back into the Aurora zone the Osprey went right after giving up the early lead.  Taylor McKay took a shot from the slot that MacLean easily handled, then Matt Ryder cut in off the wing, looking to go short side, but again Logan shut the door, and on the rebound too.  He was holding the fort and giving his team a chance to add to the lead.  Kevin Myketyn nearly banged in a rebound for the Osprey as he guided the puck just wide, and Branden Rankin would’ve had an empty net to shoot at if Kyle Ervin didn’t lift his stick too.

 

At 12:15 of the first, Matt Simpson came in and pulled a hard stop deke and almost beat Stryniak, but the rebound went out the other side and a Matt Ryder picked it up and went the distance up the ice, through everyone who tried to check him, ultimately shooting a softie on MacLean who got the whistle.  He had a harder time with shot Taylor McKay had 30 seconds later, but held on to the rebound before anyone could do damage.

 

It looked like there could be trouble when Bobby Sacre and Matt Ryder had a communications error a few minutes later.  Matt Simpson was the recipient of the error and nearly got free for a breakaway but he couldn’t get through Sacre cleanly enough, so he threw a shot on goal from his knees that wasn’t fooling Stryniak.

 

Steve Power was working his ass off as per usual and with 47 seconds left in the first, he made the best accidental fake pass to the point ever.  He then fed a beauty to Keith Webb who was just to the left of Logan.  Webb one times the pass and it was heading straight through the open five hole, but Logan was a wall, and he shut that down.  With just 12 seconds left in the first, the Osprey went to the power play.  They won the next two draws cleanly to Kurt Thibault at the point.  The first one was gloved easily, the second one was lower and a little rebound came out, but the Aurora defence were playing a strong game and Travis Hatcher cleared the zone to keep their team in the lead at the end of the first.

 

Early in the second period, the Osprey remained on the only power play of the game to this point.  They worked the puck around well and it ultimately came to Branden Rankin.  Rankin was sitting on the right wing side of the net and the pass arrived in his tape cleanly, with Logan MacLean not seeing the puck work its way across due to all the traffic.  Branden looked at the open net and the game tying goal, and instead of hitting the large opening, he fired it back across the net and hit a Logan in the shoulder and head, and the puck stayed out.  His lineys couldn’t believe that he had missed such an opportunity to be a hero in such a big game, and neither could he.

 

With the penalty killed, the Aurora tried to press for more scoring chances.  Matt a Simpson tried a tough angle shot and hit the outside of the post, then deked just about everyone but the goalie, and the game remained 1-0.  Once we hit the 10 minute mark of the 2nd period, the Osprey started to get desperate, and when teams get desperate, they take penalties.

 

With Keith Webb in the box for hooking, his team came together for the penalty kill.  The Aurora struggled to make clean passes, and the next thing you knew, Matt Ryder looked like he had a breakaway short handed.  The Osprey bench jumped up, excited at the prospect of a tie game, but either Ryder mishandled the puck, or Travis Hatcher knocked it clear of him.  Either way, the chance amounted to nothing.

 

David Lacey tipped a shot just wide of the net, but the power play couldn’t come any closer than that.  With teams back to even strength, Matt Simpson and Brandon Crowell had a 2 on 1, but couldn’t finish as Nick Stryniak was looking big between the pipes for the Osprey.  Then Dylan Kugler picked off a pass and was all alone with just him and Stryniak.  The shot was heading right into the top corner, but Nick got his shoulder on it, still 1-0 Aurora as they failed to add to their lead.

 

Kurt Thibault got a good shot on goal on a 2 on 2, but Logan wasn’t having it.  The Osprey took 2 penalties in quick succession and were down two men.  In an attempt to clear a puck off the boards, an unnamed Osprey player fired a shot that went directly into his own team’s bench.  You could hear an unnatural sound and everyone stopped as Matt Ryder fell back.  The puck hit him in the head, getting a piece of his ear lobe and connecting hard.  He urged everyone to keep playing and not to worry about him, but his team definitely worried about him, as did the Aurora.

 

The Osprey managed to kill the first penalty.  Taylor McKay was almost sprung for a breakaway, but he was tired and the puck was too far head of him.  Then then Aurora got the puck and Matt Simpson entered the zone, trying to get through two defenders, he had the puck knocked off his stick, but he kept skating forward.  Christ Stickings was following the play and made the perfect little sauce of a pass up to a Simpson who was ready for it.  Matt skated in from left to right and with his team up 1-0, with 4:16 on the clock, he put the puck between his legs and roofed a perfect shot past a stunned Nick Stryniak.  The Aurora were up 2-0 and feeling very good as they celebrated boisterously.

 

Ray Carrigan nearly killed one of his own players with a clearing attempt as he shot a puck into his bench a minute after the goal.  Luckily it missed everyone.  The Osprey called a timeout and from then on, it was pressure time.  Everything was being directed at the net, pucks, bodies, whatever.  Logan MacLean was doing everything in his power to resist the assault. 3 minutes left, then 2, then 1.  Still 2-0.  The Osprey pulled their goalie and Chris Stickings nearly put the game away but just missed the empty net, resulting in an icing.  Down under a minute, 30 seconds, still the Osprey pushed.  Then with 19 seconds left, Nathan Bessey got his stick on a puck as MacLean went to cover it, poking it through the legs of the goaltender and into the net.  2-1.  As he celebrated, he unexpectedly took a crosscheck to the midsection and went down as the refs both raised their arms.  

 

With 19.8 seconds on the clock, the Osprey went to the power play for just the second time on the night.  Right off the faceoff at centre, they went forward.  Bessey got the zone and as the puck rolled away from him, he poked it forward with Branden Rankin rushing up beside him.  Rankin reached it before any Aurora could and he swiped it back to Bessey who got it as Logan slid across.  The shot was sent up in a hurry and so was the water bottle sitting atop the net as the Osprey exuberantly celebrated tying the game up just under 7 seconds after being down 2-0.

 

This game was going to overtime.  Someone was going to score a Nomad Cup winning goal just like Chris Ryder did a year earlier as the Eurekas bested the Osprey in added time.  A minute into the period, an Aurora player hit Bessey and took a penalty. Matt Ryder had two early chances on the power play, and then Taylor McKay shot a puck through traffic that nearly found the back of the net, but the Aurora killed it off and felt a wave of relief.  Then Keith Webb tipped a point shot just wide of the goal.  Then Osprey were still buzzing, momentum was in their side.  Glenn Boyce nearly put a shot in short side, but Logan MacLean wanted back to back Nomad Cups.

 

Nearing 4 minutes into the first overtime period, Keith Webb got the puck in the corner as he continued to grind.  He sent the puck to the point where Kurt Thibault was waiting.  Thibault shot it and Branden Rankin got a stick on it.  The puck narrowly escaped being the one that would end the game.  Then, just 20 seconds later, Rankin was feeling it, and he carried the mail over the line and the Osprey set up.

 

Thibault shot from the right side as Travis Hatcher slid to block it, but the puck came through with Nathan Bessey in front.  Mat McLeod was on him as MacLean kicked out the rebound.  Bessey got body position and took one shot, Logan stopped it, and as Bessey turned, he kicked the puck around in an attempt to shoot again, but then he spotted Rankin coming in.  Instead of trying to get another shot from a bad angle, he let Rankin grab it.  Branden shot it. Logan quickly moved right and threw the blocker up.  The blocker was just centimetres too low.  The back bar of the net felt the puck connect and the Osprey went wild!  Branden Rankin, the hero of the night!  The Osprey winning their second championship in 3 years, Congratulations!

 

What an exciting finish to another incredible season of hockey.  It surely wasn’t the ending the Aurora were hoping for, but they fought hard all series.  These were the top two teams all season and both deserved a spot in the finals, a finals which couldn’t have ended in a closer way.

 

We hope to see you out at Boston Pizza Dartmouth Crossing on Saturday night as we get together to celebrate the season.  Any time after 8:30 is good.