The Great Pate

3 teams were tied with 5 points after 3 games in the 2025/26 Nomad Hockey League season, 2 of those teams, the Lions and Aurora, were facing each other on Wednesday night.  A win or loss can swing the standings quite a bit at this point in the year, so both teams wanted those 3 points.

 

The Lions, short 3 top players, were off to a good start.  Stephen Warwick blocked an early shot from the Aurora and then the Lions were pressuring the Aurora hard.  Iain Duncan had the first shot on goal and Nick Stryniak needed to be quick with his feet to make the save, and as the rebound came out to the high slot Stryniak got square to the shot and got his glove on the second shot.

 

Nathan Bessey had a 2 on 1 with Rowan Ayers and made the pass with Kirk Levy pressuring him.  Rowan missed the well made pass and couldn’t recover it.  Back up the ice went the Lions and Josh Beaudreau made a nice play to deflect a Dustin Hall shot over the glass.

 

Dave Matthews pinched for a puck in the Lions zone and he and Keegan Lewis clipped skates, sending Lewis down hard on his back.  He lay there for a moment, possibly dead, but play carried on, and he was confirmed alive as he finally got up.  On the same shift, Keegan knocked an Aurora pass down in the neutral zone and it went to Kyle Weatherbee.  Kyle entered the Auror zone and shot from just inside the blue line.  The shot clanged loudly off the post as it went by Stryniak, but it stayed out.

 

At exactly the 12 minute mark, the Aurora finally got a shot on goal and it was a tricky one.  It was just a keep in at the line thrown in the direction of the net but it went off a skate at the last moment and Trevor Pate had to be quick to react to stop it.

 

On the next play, Andrew MacDonald made a great deke around Mike Gilmore but couldn’t finish it off as he missed the net, however the puck went up the boards to Iain Duncan and he circled around, dropping the puck to Joey Richard at the point.  Joey’s wrister on goal was tipped by Jarrett Carter just in front of the glove of Stryniak and into the back of the net to put the Lions up 1-0 at 11:24 of the first.

 

Jamie Richard nearly made it 2-0 when he got the puck in the slot and just missed net with his shot, then again with a redirection that was also just inches away from going in.  

 

After Dave Matthews took Jarrett Carter down in a scoring position, the Lions power play went to work with Stephen Warwick having 2 near misses as he searched for his first goal of the season.  Then Kirk Levy tried a behind the back pass and Nathan Bessey stole it.  The two raced up the ice with Bessey in control.  He got to Trevor Pate and deked, Pate made a great glove save in the shorthanded chance to keep his team up by a goal.  Exactly 10 minutes into the game and Pate had only needed to make 2 saves, but both were great.

 

It would b a while until we saw our next good scoring chance and it came off a shot wide of the Aurora goal.  Taylor McKay picked it up and made a backhand pass to Jarrett Carter in front.  Mike Gilmore made a quick play with his stick to deflect the shot over the glass.

 

With just a few seconds left in the first, Andrew MacDonald made a perfect pass to a pinching Kyle Weatherbee and he was all alone.  Stryniak made the pad save and the rebound popped out in front.  Iain Duncan battled with Brandon Marsh and got a shot off but not the one he wanted and it went back into Stryniak instead of into the gaping net.  The Lions could only laugh about the bad luck on the play, but secretly were worried it might cost them.  They were outshooting the Aurora 22-4 after 1, but only up by a goal, and that’s always dangerous.

 

The first minute of the second was spent in the Aurora zone, but the Aurora managed to avoid any shots on goal until Warwick nearly put one over the shoulder of Stryniak, who reached across his body to make the glove save.

 

Andrey Gromov had a good chance on a shot as he forced a turnover in the Lions zone, but Trevor Pate was positionally sound, shutting him down, then he made a blocker save shortly after as the Aurora were getting a few opportunities.  David Lacey got his first shot on goal and suddenly the Aurora had doubled their shots on goal and going to the power play.

 

Pate made an early pad save and then a low glove save.  A point shot from Josh Beaudreau hit Shaun MacIntosh in front and with Pate sliding across the crease, he had to quickly slide back to make the pad save on Nathan Bessey who was fighting MacIntosh in the slot.  Rowan Ayers couldn’t find it as the puck went past him at the side of the net.

 

The Lions were playing to protect the lead and the Aurora were benefitting, Trevor Pate had to make a difficult save on a backhand chance from Gromov in front but he fought it off with 10:05 left to play. At 9:54 Jarrett Carter was given a chance alone but he shanked his shot and it was shut down by the glove of Nick Stryniak, the first lions shot in 6 minutes.  David Lacey took the puck up ice, ignoring any and all teammates, and first a shot low glove side on Pate which was caught and held.

 

The Lions had a great chance to extend their lead 30 seconds later when Dustin Hall fed Jarrett Carter, his shot was stopped and the rebound went to Jamie Richard at the left post.  He couldn’t manage to get the shot off and Dave Matthews dough for and cleared the puck.

 

With the Lions doubling up in shots at this point 28-14, David Lacey called a timeout.  No, you don’t get timeouts in the regular season.  The Lions were lined up at the face-off expecting the timeout to be called off, but it wasn’t and the Aurora made good used of their 45 second rest.

 

The teams fought for every puck and the Aurora looked rejuvenated, but they couldn’t find a way to beat Pate.  With 5:02 left, David Lacey had his best chance of the game as he got free and from the face-off dot, he ripped a clapped which was labelled for the top corner before Pate got his arm up and knocked it away.

 

A Josh Beaudreau point shot was redirected and nearly made it in, but again, Pate was in position to stop it with his pad.  The shots were suddenly looking a lot closer at 29-22 in favour of the Lions.  Then Stephen Warwick won a draw so clean that it was a shot on his own goal that Pate stopped as everyone on the Lions laughed at how terrible it would have been to see the game tied on an own goal.

 

Jamie Richard had the Lions 30th shot on goal on a 3 on 2 which Stryniak stopped.  Bessey nearly got away to the Lions goal, but Kirk Levy wasn’t letting him win the race this time and forced Bessey to stop up and spin looking for a pass, but when he realized his linemates were no-where in sight, he spun and shot, but it was harmless.

 

David Lacey tried going forward with a shot off the draw and it went off Hall’s stick and well wide of the net as Lacey proved he didn’t trust his linemates, feeling the need to be the hero himself, but the hero of the night was wearing the goalie gear in the Lions net.

 

Joey Richard did his best to help out his goaltender, sliding to block a shot with 2:05 left on the clock.  As the time ticked past the one minute mark, Taylor McKay made a beauty of a dangle on Dave Matthews and got in alone but his backhander was denied.  The puck came to Keegan Lewis and he shot, his stick riding up the shaft of Matthews stick and right into his face, giving him a deep cut on the cheek, not a great 10 second span for Dave.

 

The Aurora pulled their goalie and Stephen Warwick got the monkey off his back as he battled through a check from Lacey who fell on his ass.  Warwick released the shot from just outside his own blue line and hit dead centre to make it 2-0 Lions with 3.8 seconds left on the clock.  That was the Lions 37th shot on goal, to the Aurora's 25.

 

Trevor Pate, having been given the player of the game award in the previous Lions match, gave it to Joey Richard for a strong defensive performance as well as an assist, but the helmet was returned the real POG as Pate earned his first NHL shutout.  He is the only goaltender to have a clean sheet so far this season and leads the league with a 1.33 GAA.