Everyone’s a Winner

There were 3 games in the docket Monday night at the RBC Centre in Dartmouth.  The first game was between the Wolverines and Voyageurs.  The Wolverines were looking for their first regulation win of the season against a Voyageurs squad that has been up and down like a roller coaster this season.

 

No-one was getting close to the goalies to kick off the game, but eventually the Wolverines started getting more and more opportunities.  6 minutes in, Josh Stevens got the puck and threw it off the cross bar and it came out to Scott Stewart in front.  The puck went off his foot while he was skating to the net and into the net.  The refs immediately called the goal off as it appeared to be a kicking motion.

 

40 seconds later, Stevens got himself into a breakaway situation.  Just Josh and Voyageurs goaltender Andrew Lowery.  Lowery kicked out his left foot to stop Stevens.  A minute later, the Wolverines persistence paid off as Brian Collins took a shot which was stopped but Andrew MacDonald put into the net on the rebound.  

 

Ashton Speight was making calm saves in his net until Cobee MacNaughton’s shot off the corner crossbar hit the ceiling.  That’s was when Speight started making more acrobatic saves, including a 2 on 0 chance which ended in Bo Lowery thinking he’d have an easy goal at the right side of the net until Pseught slid across and made a pad save.

 

6 minutes left in the first and Isaac Pelley makes a pass to Rohan Dempsey who carries the mail up ice.  He gets all the way deep into enemy territory and cuts to the net hard.  Andrew Lowery made the save but the rebound came out to Josh Stevens in the opposite side of the goal, and with a half open net, Josh made no mistake.

 

There was 5:50 remaining in the first period, so a long way to go for a win, but the Wolverines bench was feeling pretty good as they sat on their first two goal lead of the season.  It wouldn’t last long.

 

Josh Beitel won the faceoff clean back to Michael Finlayson, whose shot missed the net, but Beitel went to the side of the net where the puck found him.  With an empty net, Beitel scored his second of the season to cut the lead to 2-1.

 

Brian Collins was helping his team by way of a big shot block on Shannon Farrell with 2:20 left in the period.  Then in the second period, he would make a great pass on the power play.  Winding up from the point, Collins spotted Carter Nickerson sitting on the back door with no-one around.  The pass was in the tape and quickly went to the back of the net to make it 3-1.

 

Jamie Richard had a great chance to extend the lead when Josh Stevens passed to him in a 2 on 1, but Richard mishandled the puck and was unable to get the shot off until Lowery had come across with the two pad stack to deny him.  In the end it would not matter though, as the Wolverines would hang on to secure the 3-1 win, their first in regulation as the team starts coming together with the playoffs quickly approaching.

 

Our second game of the night featured the league leading Falcons, fresh off a big character win with only 7 skaters vs a nearly full Sable squad the week before, winning with just 10 seconds left to play.  They were looking at the Wolfpack at the other side of the ice, the other team without a regulation victory.

 

The Wolfpack came out ready to play, hemming the Falcons into their zone, and Conor MacLean took a shot that went through a screen and just trickled over the line after finding its way through the equipment of Josh McCarther just 1:16 into the game.  

 

Rylan d’Entremont, who started the season off on an absolute tear, got the puck on the left win in the Falcons zone and the seas parted.  He skated in and beat the blocker of Josh McCarther to make it 2-0 

 

Kurt Thibault had scored his first of the season in his previous game, and he turned it into a streak when he deked around everyone and tucked in in past the extended leg of McCarther.

 

The Falcons got one back when Matt Gendron took a turnover and slung it over the glove of Nick Comeau.  The line of Gendron, Joe MacDougll, and Jory Uhlman, had been getting some chances, but a mix of Comeau saves, and some iron, had kept them from scoring in advance of that play.  

 

Kurt Thibault was on a tear though and he made his way through a few checks and out his second of the game in to make it 4-1 before the period ended.

 

In the second period, the Falcons were putting a bit of pressure on the Wolfpack, but their defence cleared a puck off the goal line twice to keep their lead at 3.  With just under 6 minutes left to play, Nick Hodgson rushed up the ice from the Falcons end and got all the way to the net where Nick Comeau made a glove save, but the puck sat on top of his pad just below his glove, and Dustin Hall came in and poked it through to make it 4-2.

 

Despite their best efforts, the Falcons couldn’t find a way to beat Comeau any more, and Kurt Thibault was able to finish his hatty in the final minute.  The only thing left was for Glenn Boyce to run Hall into the end boards with 15 seconds left and ruin his 47 game streak of no penalty minutes.  

 

The Wolfpack win means that everyone has won in regulation.

 

Lastly, we had the Highlanders playing the Astros, the teams with the league’s leading scorers.  Greg Delano has been a freight train recently and he was not going to to be stoping vs the Astros, no sir.  He opened the scoring at 13:49 of the first with a wraparound goal that may or may not have gone under the net.  We’ll never know, but it was called a good goal.

 

Alex Murphy was on the receiving end of a fantastic pass from Justin Langille on the power play which he quickly redirected past Highlanders backup goaltender Ryan Shaw.  

 

The tie game would stay tied for 6 minutes, when David Lacey dropped the puck to Bryce Hirtle who then moved it quickly to Greg Delano whose one timer flew past Jared Worth.  Keith Webb’s shot was hard enough to sneak through Worth and as Ryan Boucher skated back to the net to try to pull it off the line, the puck got all the way over to make it 3-1 for the Highlanders.

 

The chances were coming more frequently now and Connor LeBlanc made his way into the Astros zone and took a shot that beat the glove of Worth. The period would conclude with the 4-1 scoreline.

 

In the second period, the Astros started getting their shit together and looked like a dangerous team once more.  Norm Gallant got a shot through on the point which pinged off the post to the left of Shaw but remained out.  The puck quickly found its way back to 88 and this time his show was more to the middle of the net.  Darren Ells was in front screening and he got his stick on the puck which went into the top of the net as the Astros started their comeback.

 

A couple minutes later, the Astros would strike again.  Zack Harrison batted a rebound out of the air and off Shaw who had stretched out, and then Alex Murphy knocked it out of the air, but Shaw wouldn’t have luck on his side this time as the game was now closing in on level at 4-3 for the Highlanders, and that’s how this one would end.

 

With the win, the Highlanders move into sole possession of first place and they partied like they were in first, as they blared some Ed Sheeran and probably slow danced in the room, though we cannot confirm nor deny any such things happened.

 

There are still some more games this week and the standings could chance again, but David Lacey’s team will enjoy being in the lead for the time being at least.