Shooting Gallery Between Sable and Wolverines

This Wednesday night was a short one with only 2 games to be played.  The Wolverines and Sable got going at 8pm and the captain of the Sable, Silas Bonnell, picked off a Wolverine pass in the offensive zone shooting over the left pad and under the glove of Ashton Speight to open the scoring.  

 

Undeterred by the goal against, the Wolverines immediately responded.  Josh Stevens fed Scott Stewart who pushed his way through and got a shot on goal while Andrew MacDonald went to the net.  The first shot was saved but A-Mac was right at the edge of the crease for a little backhand tap in to make it 1-1 just 29 seconds after the Sable goal.

 

After some peripheral shots on goal for the Wolverines yielded no results, Jared Creelman took charge for a minute and moved up the left wing, cutting through all he encountered.  Poor Derek Hale was no match for him on defence.  Rumour is that he still doesn’t know where the puck is.  Creelman turned Hale inside out and then with no-one left to beat but the goalie, he did just that by going upstairs.

 

Michael Bourgeois was leading the response crew this time as he crashed the net and took a pass from Jamie Richard which he just needed to guide in to tie it at 2.  4 goals scored in the first 5:12 of the game, this was looking like a points night for everyone involved.

 

Connor Parsons, filling in for an absent Trevor Pate, was getting peppered.  Jamie Richard tipped a shot in front at the 11 minute mark that Parsons swallowed, then he denied Josh Stevens on the breakaway 30 seconds later, then another save of a great tip by Andrew MacDonald, Carter Nickerson nearly scored on a wraparound that turned into a mad scramble as the quality shots were piling up for the Wolverines.    

 

The Sable were getting fewer shots, but a lot of them were right in the slot.  Silas had a breakaway but the puck rolled on him last minute and his backhand was easy to stop, then he took a drop pass from Jake Rankin and leaned into a one timer the Speight fought off with his blocker.  Rankin was in front just moments later when he stopped an incoming shot by Mike McIsaac and pulled it around Speight who had gotten in position to stop the initial shot.  3-2 Sable.

 

Scott Stewart nearly tied the game when he found some space and hit the post with his shot.  The Wolverines were getting close but their frustration was growing with their shot total.  Silas and Jake were having some good chemistry as they found themselves on another 2 on 1, this time Rankin was the shooter and his initial shot and rebound were stopped by the pad of Speight.

 

With just over 3 minutes in the first, Kyle Weatherbee wound up and whiffed on a shot from the point.  Any frustration from that miss was quickly dismissed when Weatherbee’s stick broke off the next draw and Carter Nickerson took the puck in for a breakaway.  Carter missed the net by a mile.

 

Cole Stewart and Noah Joncas raced for a puck on the next shift and Cole got there just ahead of Noah and he leaned into a shot that slammed directly off the cage if Ashton who was shaken up.  Cole put his hand up to have the ref blow the play down despite getting the puck back.  Ashton would remain in the game.

 

Rohan Dempsey took the puck hard to the net, cutting across the crease while deking and nearly scoring, but Parsons stopped him and there was a melee in front.  The puck popped loose as the whistle went as the Wolverines were upset about the quick whistle.  They would tie the game up however in the last 20 seconds of the period when Isaac Pelley roofed a shot from the left wing.

 

After the first period we had a tie game, but the shots were heavily leaning in the Wolverines favour at 27-16.  

 

We wouldn’t see a great scoring chance until 13:45 when Jamie Richard and Rohan Dempsey had a 2 on 1 but ended up putting 2 shots into the chest of Connor Parsons.  The same players, plus Wolverines captain Jeff Snow, would get another chance a minute later on a 3 on 2.  This time there would be a rebound off the initial shot as everyone crashed the net.  Parsons splayed out unsure of where the puck was but after everyone and their mother took a whack at the puck, Kirk Levy cleared it.  Kirk would shortly thereafter leave the game due to a muscle strain.

 

Kyle Weatherbee, down one expensive stick in the game, could only shake his head as his second Trigger snapped in front of his bench, and once again it led to a breakaway, this time for Josh Stevens.  Josh did better than Carter as he at least didn’t miss the net, but he still couldn’t score.  The Wolverines were playing their best game of the year with more scoring chances than the rest of their games combined.  Andrew MacDonald was in the right place at the right time multiple times, including at 11:37 of the second when he went to the net from the left side and the rebound went off the pads of Parsons right to his tape with an open net.  It should have been 4-3 but Andrew missed the net!

 

As always happens, a missed chance went the other direction and Silas Bonnell received the pass from Kyle Weatherbee, using someone else’s stick (maybe he should buy that kind), and Silas went 5 hole to give his team the 4-3 lead.

 

With Jamie Richard and Rohan Dempsey working down low for the Wolverines, Mike Bourgeois pinched in from the point and came straight to the goal.  By the time the perfect pass found him in front, he was already in the crease as he quickly put the puck to the back of the net to tie the game at 4.

 

Mike Bourgeois then took a holding penalty as he defended Jared Creelman.  Creelman was lucky not to get a holding penalty on the play himself as he was actually holding Bourgeois.  A few cross checks after the whistle went uncalled and the Sable went to the power play.  PK specialist Rowan Ayers hopped the boards immediately to help his team defend.  The Sable proceeded to get men open in the slot for scoring chances, but thankfully Ashton was making the saves.  Creelman had 3 seconds by himself with the puck at the hash marks but Speight bested him with his glove as he telescoped out.

 

Momentum was moving in the Sable’s direction and the defence were pinching to keep pucks in but Carter Nickerson poked one puck past Jake Russell and was almost off to the races but Russel turned and knocked it away just in time with 1:20 left.

 

We were nearly at the end of the game when Rohan Dempsey got a glorious chance in front of the net off a Bourgeois pass.  Connor Parsons went down and the shot went up but deflected off the crossbar and over the net.  This game was going to a shootout, the Wolverines up first.

 

Mike Bourgeois tried going low blocker side, but Parsons knocked it away, then Brennan aware deked around to the glove side of Speight and fanned on the puck but recovered and slid it around the fully extended goaltender.  Carter Nickerson deked to the blocker side of Parsons and couldn’t beat him with his backhand.  A goal for Cole Stewart would seal the victory for the Sable, he came in from the left side and deked across the net and got the puck up and over the pad of Speight to give the Sable the win.

 

The Wolverines can take a lot of positives from their game as they outshot the Sable 45-30 and played a solid team game that could have easily gone the other way with a couple different bounces.  They will seek their first regulation next week vs the Astros as the Sable look for redemption vs the Falcons.