Joshing Around

With a win in regulation Wednesday night, either one of the Norsemen or Osprey would move into first place.  The teams stepped on to the ice with the Jays holding a small lead in game 5 of their World Series matchup vs the Dodgers, and both teams had the game on in their dressing rooms.

 

The Norsemen had a couple shots in the first minute of the game but nothing Matt Baird couldn’t handle, then up the ice went hit team, Matt Simpson banging the puck out of the air twice as he got past Blake Isenor but then lost the handle.  The whole ice saw action in the next minute and Phil Sprague had to make a nice save on Matt Pare.  Pare would then go down hard in a battle beside the goal with Chad Hasegawa, and as the play stopped to check to see if he got knocked out, he slowly got up, gave his head a shake and got on with the game.  He’d have his stick knocked out of his hand later in the shift and had to skate all the way into the Norsemen zone to get it back, but then he setup Matt Simpson for a scoring chance (which he put into Sprague’s chest), so all in all, not the worst shift for Pare.

 

It was an onslaught for the Osprey as they forced the Norsemen to chase them for pucks.  Sprague was playing well, making many good saves from scoring areas.  The Norsemen were struggling to get good shots on goal, mostly being kept to the outside.  The Osprey chances were increasing exponentially.  Scott Stewart shot on a 2 on 1 with the Rohan, who then batted the puck off Sprague’s mask.  Matt Simpson tried a between the legs shot that same shift and put it wide as the game remained scoreless.  

 

Then Josh Stevens got a breakaway.  Working on his quest for 100 NHL goals, Stevens fired a shot, but got no closer to 100 as Sprague shut him down.  Then 2 minutes later, a Stevens outworked Isenor to get a short breakaway again, and Sprague stopped him once more.

 

Isaac Pelley took a point shot and Nic Collins ducked and like a batter at the plate avoiding to get hit and then fouling the ball, the puck went off the high stick of Collins above his head, setting up a faceoff outside the Norsemen blue line.  The Osprey brought the puck into the zone right off the draw and Josh Martel’s shot hopped out to Josh Stevens in the slot and this time he beat Sprague to make it 1-0 Osprey with 5:19 left in the first.

 

The Norsemen went right at the Osprey for a scoring chance but Baird made a couple saves and multiple plays in a row as the Norsemen shot totals finally started trending upwards.  The Norsemen had a strong few minutes of play to finish out the first period, but remained off the scoreboard.

 

Mya Ferguson nearly scored from the corner as she centres a puck into the early part of the second and it deflected in front but a Sprague made a quick toe save.  But one of his best saves of the night came off a 2 on 1.  Scott Stewart took the shot and a Rohan Dempsey went hard to the net and the puck came out to him.  Sprague reached out and made a huge blocker save to keep it a one goal game. 

 

It was a night for Josh’s though as Josh Martel walked in and took a clapper that went through the tiniest space between the skates of Chad Hasegawa and the under the glove of Sprague to make it 2-0 at the 13 minute mark of the second.

 

Sprague continued to face a lot of scoring chances as he denied Matt Simpson with the glove on a clear cut breakaway which led to a great scoring chances at the other end.  Darren Ells got the puck into front and Baird made a good pad save, and then saved the rebound twice as he stretched out in the crease, and then he had to spin around and make a diving average in the other direction. 

 

 

Josh Stevens nearly had his second as he rushed the net and got a rebound chance that Sprague stopped while lying on his stomach, his stick extended as far as he could to cover the goal line, and Stevens couldn’t elevate the puck.  Stevens was having a night though and after many attempts, he got himself a second goal with 4:37 left to play in the game as Josh Martel set him up all alone and he tucked it five hole.

 

The next shift, the Norsemen finally made something dangerous happen after a little while without a good chance.  Rob Manteuffel stole a puck and went up ice.  He bobbled the puck and looked to kill the play but he corralled it and drew two Osprey D as he passed to Dylan Kugler.  Kugler spotted Ray Carrigan back door and bam, goodbye shutout Mr. Baird. 3-1 Osprey with 3:50 to go.

 

Zack Harrison then nearly killed himself when his stick got caught in the door, breaking the toe of his stick off and giving him a sore set of ribs.  When we reset, Rohan Dempsey nearly scored with a semi breakaway, Hasegawa hounding him from behind.

 

The Norsemen then scored off a faceoff as James Harrison just threw a puck on goal that wasn’t seen and we had a 3-2 game with 1:33 to go.  Phil Sprague had been skating to the bench for an extra attacked and never made it before for the Harrison goal went in.  Though he did make it eventually, and Josh Stevens hit the open net from his own end to complete the hat trick.  The Osprey move into first place with the win, and Josh Stevens gets closer to the 100 goal plateau, he’s just 6 away.