Wolfpack seeing Starrs

Buckle up kids, the playoffs are here and with all 4 games in one night, we were in for a wild ride.

Our first matchup of the night was between the 3rd place Starrs vs the 6th place Wolfpack.  Neither team had a full bench, with the Wolfpack missing some key pieces.  The feeling was that the Wolfpack’s absences were going to make it hard for them to pull off the upset.  Pat Oxner and Kenzie Wadden were first on the ice for the Starrs and they looked ready to play.

It was indeed the Starrs opening the scoring as Kenzie Wadden took a cross crease pass from Pete Swistun and sent it through the five-hole of Nick Comeau at 13:03.

30 seconds later, Swistun took the puck in on a breakaway looking to extend the lead but he missed his chance.  Undeterred, the Starrs continued pressing.  Oxner got the puck in the high slot and shot it so hard that it pretty well went through Comeau’s glove and in to make it 2-0 at 11:48 of the first.  Despite pre-game predictions of a close game, this was starting to show symptoms of a blowout.  

Without any decent scoring chances, the Wolfpack were looking nervous, but they weren’t looking defeated, instead they rallied.  Kurt Thibault put the team on his back and started making power moves.  He came up the right wing and drew everyone to him before he dropped the puck to Rylan d’Entremont who quickly shot.  Blake Isenor of the Starrs had dropped but shot up as the puck came towards him and he got his shoulder on it to make the save.

Thibault got free in the slot 20 seconds later and with time and space, he roofed it to cut the lead in half.  We had a game, and what a game.  The action was fast and furious with the play switching directions faster than a tennis game.

With 7 left in the first, Nick Comeau made a 4 save sequence including the last one on a redirected Kenzie Wadden shot that he got with the tip of his toe.  On the same shift, Jonny Bamford was forechecking and he stole a puck just inside the Starrs zone and was alone, him vs Isenor.  Bamford’s shot was perfectly placed over the pad and under the glove, and the game that had looked bad at the start for the Wolfpack, was now tied at 2.

Mike Chassie nearly got the Starrs back in front a couple minutes later when he got his own rebound and narrowly missed the top corner.  Then the Wolfpack’s Thibault was in a great scoring position with 37 seconds left in the first, but Isenor made the blocker save, so we finished the first tied.

The Wolfpack’s chat at the intermission was calm and clear, they were in this game and they could win.  They went right at the Starrs to begin the period.  51 seconds in, we had ourselves a goal of the year candidate.  Max Dewey fed a pass across the zone to the slot to Kurt Thibault, and instead of shooting, he made a subtle hesitation and sent it back across the crease to d’Entremont who was waiting on the back door for the easy tap in.  The Wolfpack were up 3-2 but there were still 16 minutes to go, and holding a lead that long would be difficult.  

3 minutes after that goal, Max Dewey had a great chance to score for the Wolfpack, but he was stopped and the Wolfpack’s Thibault were caught napping.  Pat Oxner’s jets were going full throttle and he took a pass at centre and had no-one challenging him, he skated into the Wolfpack zone and took one stride and on his second, he fired a shot under Comeau’s blocker to tie it back up.  The Starrs erupted in cheers as the Wolfpack hung their heads.

The Wolfpack then found themselves in penalty trouble taking two in a row which gave the Starrs a 5 on 3.  Oxner found some cushy space in the slot and took a pass.  He wound up the one-time and heeled it.  The puck went to the corner and Pat started moving around for more space. He found it, then Kenzie Wadden found him.  Comeau made the pad save on the first shot, but Oxner quickly put his rebound in on the backhand to make it 4-3 with 6:04 remaining.  The Starrs remained in the power play, but PP2 couldn’t add to the lead.

It wasn’t for lack of trying that the Wolfpack couldn’t find the tying goal on Isenor, but the Starrs wanted this win and were playing hard enough to earn it.  The deal would be sealed with just 13 seconds left as Kenzie scored in the empty net, dashing the Wolfpack’s dreams of back to back trips to the finals.  The game itself was as entertaining as any, but that would be no solace for Jonny Bamford, at least he would get to see another couple of good game afterwards to end his season.