Highlanders Win/Lose

Monday’s second game was between the Wolfpack and Highlanders.  David Lacey’s Highlanders were playing their second last regular season game while the Wolfpack entered action with 3 games remaining.  

This would be the Keith Webb show.  He started off with a 2 on 1 with Brock Bethune, electing to shoot, but getting denied.  Keith would take this personally, but first, he would go for a line change, likely to plot his revenge.  In the meantime, Jonny Bamford would one time a puck out of the air from down low, but it would go straight over the glass.

Webb, back in the ice with a plan, went through half of the Wolfpack and then got a hard, clean shot which Wolfpack sub Jamie Wutke denied with a kick save.  However Dorian Brooks was in position to slam the rebound home to make it 1-0 for the Highlanders at 10:49.  10 seconds later, Webb and Brooks had a 2 on 1.  No goals this time though.

The next time we’d get a good scoring chance, it would be Kurt Thibault rushing up the ice for the Wolfpack.  He got all the way to the goal and goes for the Forsberg.  With his one hand on the stick, he tried to slide the puck around Logan MacLean, and he nearly does but the puck slides just past the goal.  Ivan Kravchenko followed up the play and tried to pull the puck back in front from behind the goalline beside the net, but the Highlanders Mya Ferguson told him to screw off and cleared the zone.

Keith Webb continued to terrorize the Wolfpack with another clapper.  The shot gets stopped, but the rebound slides through the crease, narrowly missing the far post.  In the Highlanders zone, the Wolfpack were building up to something, and Max Dewey had a great chance, but Travis Hatcher had a massive shot block.  Dewey had the last laugh though as he got the puck passed back to him by Eli Beaton, and he put it in, for his first goal since opening night.  Watch out for him to get hot just in time for playoffs.

Highlanders pressure was a near constant in the first period, but David Lacey’s team couldn’t get out of the first period with anything more than a deadlock vs Jonny Bamford’s Wolfpack.

An early chance for Taylor McKay to get a breakaway was thwarted by a good poke check by Eli Beaton, who got McKay again later in the shift as he tried entering the zone, though the Highlanders would find some more sustained zone time, and it was a point shot that squeaked through Jamie Wutke and just before it crossed the line, Conor MacLean stopped it.  Then he held it there for a few seconds as he surveyed his options.  He was unaware that the league’s leading scorer, Greg Delano, was coming up behind him.  Just as Greg reached, Conor made his pass, just in time to unknowingly avoid catastrophe.

At about 12:20 of the second, the game still tied, Mya Ferguson was checking her man in front when a pass was made near her.  It deflected off the heel of her stick and just barely missed going in as it went by Logan.  

Then the Wolfpack went to the power play and Conor MacLean had great vision as he spotted Bamford waiting for the back door pass, but Jonny couldn’t corral the puck and shoot it quicker than Logan MacLean could get into position to stop him.

Keith Webb hopped on the ice on the PK right as Travis Hatcher picked off a pass in the corner.  Webb yelled for the pass, and Hatcher launched the puck up to him.  Webb entered the zone and wound up as Wutke came out to cut down the angle.  The puck was stopped but the rebound came right back and Webb had plenty of room to chip it in for the shorty. 

Kyle Gouthro’s solo end to end rush was a successful on at 7:20 as he extended the lead for the Highlanders, and then with the net empty, Webb would get his second of the night as he carried the team to victory.  

A big win for the Highlanders also came with a big loss as leading scorer Greg Delano would leave the game part way through with what appeared to be a broken finger which he sustained in a collision with a Wolfpack player.  The loss would be a big blow for the Highlanders with just a single regular season game remaining, much too late in the season to replace a player.  The Highlanders will need to come together as a team if they want to win the championship this summer.