Evergreens not Feeling Very Green

Entering action Thursday night, the Norsemen and Evergreens were 7th and 8th respectively.  Mind you, this is very early in the season, both teams had only played twice.  

The Evergreens seemed to have some legs early, and they had the first shot on goal off a rush by Silas Bonnell.  The Norsemen responded as Pete Swistun made a great backhand pass to Nick Marshall in front with an open net, but Evergreens defender Kenny Shea knocked the puck off his stick as soon as it got there.  Jamie Wutke then shot that puck out of harm’s way.

Landon Miron and James Harrison had a 2 on 1 against Tyler Carr.  Carr slid to break up the pass but Miron held on and toe dragged him, then he faked the shot and deked and hit the side of the net as Wutke reached back with his pads.

This is pretty much how the first period went.  We had both teams getting chances, some big saves, some big scrambles, and even a shot by Blake Irvine that went off the inside of the post and came back out, but we would only see one goal.  That goal came when Zack Harrison had his stick knocked out of his hands in the neutral zone and by the time he had caught it, the puck was nearby.  He grabbed the puck and made a chip up to Landon Miron.  Miron sauced a pass over to James Harrison and he shot it by Wutke on the blocker side.  1-0 Norsemen is how the period ended.

Just 23 seconds into the 2nd, the Evergreens entered the Norsemen zone, Blake Irvine taking the shot on goal as he beat two defencemen.  Phil Sprague made the kick save with his left leg but Michael Finlayson was driving the net and when the rebound went to him, he had an easy tap in and the score was back to level.

This was the moment the hockey gods changed the channel and started watching the Landon show.  Miron knocked down an Evergreens dump down the ice and went all the way up the ice himself, eventually cutting into the middle of the ice and shooting back in the direction he came from, he beat Wutke’s glove.  This was just 22 seconds after the Evergreens had tied the game.

Jeff Miles made a pass to Nick Marshall while falling and Marshall went up the right wing and faked a shot, instead passing to a Miron who probably could have one touched it in, but instead deked back towards Marshall and Wutke went sliding the other direction as Landon tucked it in.  Then we had Marshall to Miron again 30 seconds later for the natural hatty, but wait, there’s more.  Pete Swistun’s hard work thwarted a clearing attempt and Jeff Miles found Miron who scored his second five hole goal in a row.  It was now 5-1 Norsemen and the Evergreens had given up.  The Norsemen were out for blood.

Nick Marshall scored through traffic, then found Swistun going hard to the net as the Norsemen went up 7-1 and that was all she wrote.  With the win, the Norsemen vaulted all the way from 2nd last to 2nd place as one of two teams to record regulation wins in multiple games in this early part of the season.  The Evergreens will be back on the hunt for a win next week when they take on the Greyhounds.