Close Games

All 8 teams were back in action on Wednesday night with some playing their third game but our opening matchup was between the two teams who had only played once; the Wolverines and Falcons.

 

After a big win opening night, the Falcons jumped ahead early when Josh Flemming took a pass from Dylan Haggett and walked in over the blue line and clapped a shot that Ashton Speight didn’t pick up in time.  The Wolverines struggled to get much going offensively, managing only a single shot on goal in the first 5 minutes.

 

Jory Uhlman doubled the lead with 6 minutes left in the first with a rebound goal as the Falcons looked comfortable.  The Wolverines were putting in a solid effort and with just under 2 minutes to go, Josh Stevens picked up an errant pass and entered the Falcons zone.  The defensemen were mid change and probably could have been called for too many men in the ice.  Josh took advantage of the moment of chaos and fired a shot low blocker side that beat Josh McCarther.

 

Scott Stewart kept the momentum going with game tying goal with just one minute left and the teams went into the break level.

 

The Wolverines picked up their game, motivated by their two goals in a minute.  Scott Stewart nearly gave them the lead when he hit the crossbar on a breakaway.  Matt Gendron of the Falcons took a feed from Jory Uhlman 3 minutes into the period and put a hard wrister into the net to give the Falcons the 3-2 lead.  The game was tight from there with puck battles at both ends.  Ashton Speight and Josh McCarther made some big saves and then a rush for the Falcons ended with a shot by Joe MacDougall that Speight saved but the puck went up high into the air and he lost track of it.  Busting his ass all the way from his own zone, Nick Hodgson raced to the net, as did Robin Gareau who was basically there already.  Nick took no chances that Robin would be sure to get the puck and Hodgson won the race and got the it in the crease and knocked it in for the 2 goal lead restoration.

 

With 2:35 left to play, Noah Joncas fired a shot from below the goal line that went of the goaltender’s head and in to make it a 3-2 game.  Speight came out with a minute or so to play and the Wolverines kept winning puck battles, then the puck would get iced, missing the empty net.  McCarther made a massive glove save, and then as the clock ticked down, nearing zero, a loose puck squeaked out from under McCarther and just as the Wolverines player connected with it in the crease, the buzzer sounded.  A mere fraction of a second too late to tie the game.  The Falcons remain undefeated after their first two games while the Wolverines seek their first win.

 

Our second game of the night was the Highlanders vs the Wolfpack.  David Lacey was desperate to get his team their first win of the season but Jonny Bamford’s sleeper pick, the absolute stud; Rylan d’Entremont was spotted by Max Dewey and Rylan sniped one top shelf on Logan MacLean just 38 seconds into the game.

 

Highlanders first rounder Greg Delano would score a similar goal to level the score after taking the pass from Dorian Brooks.  Then Delano would double dip as he scored a wraparound goal to make it 2-1 Highlanders after 1.

 

Apparently first minute goals are his thing, because Rylan scored 41 seconds into the second to tie the game at 2s.  Then we played 16:19 of scoreless hockey.  The Highlanders had a power play chance, but they could only come as close as Lacey knocking Speight’s helmet off with a shot, so they would need the shootout.  

 

Mat McLeod of the Wolfpack nearly scored, but hit the post, so he didn’t, to open it up, then Greg Delano was denied, both players electing to shoot rather than deke.  Rylan d’Entremont was then denied by Logan’s blocker, and Keith Webb was denied by Ashton’s blocker.  Blocker side was all the rage, so Jared MacDougall got in on the blocker save action when he sent his shot in.  MacLean made the save of course.  Brock Bethune couldn’t find the net so we were on to extra shooters.  Up first was Max Dewey and he popped the water bottle to put the Wolfpack ahead.  David Lacey looked up and down his bench and saw no good choices but himself apparently and he went out there and deked to the blocker side but couldn’t get it up and Speight shut that shit down to help the Wolfpack earn the 2 points.

 

While the Highlanders remain winless through three games, they have at least picked up a point while the Wolfpack are in the middle of the table with 4 points stemming from two shootout victories.

 

Our third game of the night was between the Starrs and Astros.  The Starrs aimed to remain undefeated while the Astros we just looking to get a winning streak going.  It was clear from the hop that these teams were evenly matched and we would have a good game.  

 

Josh Beaudreau opened the scoring when he took a feed from Darren Ells and quickly took a low shot.  Then Landon Miron and James Harrison forgot they had a third player on their line and had a give and go with multiple passes, culminating in Harrison taking the final pass and dangling Phil Sprague to make to 2-0 Astros 6 minutes in.  The score was not indicative of the players however.  The Starrs were giving Jared Worth plenty of work.

 

Worth however many good saves he made, got caught a bit on the first one he allowed when Mitch Hamilton took a shot from the high slot that went five hole.  Worth threw his head back, knowing he should have had that one.

 

Entering the second period down 2-1, the Starrs pressed hard.  Kenzie Wadden received a perfect pass from Pat Oxner and deked, sliding the puck five hole as Worth moved across the crease.  We had a tie game with 15 minutes to play.

 

With 10:10 to go, a rebound went to the front of the net and just before the Starrs could put it in, Norm Gallant reached out and cleared the puck from the crease.  Then with 8:25 left, Kenzie Wadden got alone to the left of Jared Worth and instead of shooting, he fed a perfect pass to Pete Swistun who had a big, wide, open net.  3-2 Starrs.  Or it would have been if he didn’t miss the pass.

 

This paved the way for the Astros who sent a barrage towards Phil Sprague.  Blake Isenor made a great defensive play as he blocked a shot in front of the net.  The Astros regrouped and Landon fired a low shot from the faceoff dot and the Astros were on top by a goal.

 

A whopping 12 seconds later, Mitchell Hamilton sent the puck into the top shelf to tie it back up again.  The Astros hadn’t even stopped fist bumping on the bench.  Phil Sprague gave the Starrs a chance as he made a big glove save off a one timer.

 

Then, with just a few minutes left, Josh Beaudreau’s shot was tipped by Darren Ells to put the Astors up once more, and that is how the game would end, in a 4-3 Astros victory.  The win lets the Astros leapfrog the Starrs in the standings as the first tiebreaker is head to head wins.  The Astros had lost to the Falcons opening night so will remain behind them for the time being.

 

Game 4 of 4 was the Sable bs Voyageurs.  Silas Bonnell rocking his new contact lenses and the pride of graduating college earlier in the day, was looking to get his team a big win to close out the week.  It would not start well for him.  Cobee MacWrongSocks beat Trevor Pate with a shot through the five-hole.  Then Andrew Lowery made a good save of a Silas tip, bobbling the puck momentarily before catching it again.

 

The Sable responded at 9:07 when Cole Stewart made a great back door pass to a waiting Jake Rankin who tapped it in.  

 

Andrew Lowery was looking good with an incredible stick save, reaching back and getting the paddle on the puck to stop a sure goal.  The play turned up the ice and after Cobee protected the puck well on a 2 on 1, he was sent to the side of the net, but he spotted Nick Marshall across the ice and sent a great pass on the tape.  Marshall’s one-timer was stolen from going in as Trevor Pate reached back with his right handed glove and caught the puck in what is his third submission into the save of the year contest.  

 

Brennan Ware saw that all-star like performance and one timed a shot into the Voyageurs goal on a cross crease pass.  Then Jared Creelman got one on a low shot in the final minute of the first.  The sable were up 3-1, scoring three unanswered goals.

 

Ware got another early in the second NDP the Voyageurs looked to respond but even Shannon Farrell stealing the puck off Trevor Pate couldn’t be turned into a goal.  Silas Bonnell would hit the outside of the post, but the Sable pressure kept mounting.  The Voyageurs couldn’t put anything meaningful together and with 59 seconds left, Wre completed the hatty with a beauty of a snipe over the blocker and shoulder of Lowery. There was hardly a puck’s worth of space where he placed that shot.

 

The Sable would win 4-1 and improve their record to 2 and 1.  4 of the 8 teams sit on 6 points to lead the league after two weeks of play.