Evergreens Stump Tigers

The Evergreens were the only team remaining without a win so far this season despite being in some very close games.  They hoped they could change that as they faced the Tigers on Tuesday night, and they knew they would have to count on a big night from their goalie, Jamie Wutke, if they were going to do so.

 

Ron Beaton forcing a turnover 2 minutes into the game, led to the first scoring chance.  He fed the puck to Kurt Thibault who worked the give and go with Ron and set him up with an empty net chance as Thibault had drawn Jamie Wutke to the side of the net, but Max Dewey made a great defensive play to break the play up just in time, and even though the Tigers got the puck back, Dan Keays alone in the slot was no match for a square Wutke.

 

That being said, the faceoff that followed ways between Thibault and Evergreens captain Silas Bonnell.  The puck hit the ice and neither got a stick on it, but Silas kept moving forward as if he had won the draw, leaving Kurt with the puck.  He shot and Wutke kicked out the pad for the save.  Allan Beaton was right there in front and easily converted that save into the opening goal as the Tigers went up 1-0.

 

At the other end, Josh McCarther wasn’t seeing much rubber, but the Evergreens did respond with a little flurry of shots after the goal, but nothing to show for it.  Then, with 12:40 still on the first period clock, Silas dangled a whole bunch of Tigers as he used his speed to assist him.  He deked to the backhand annnnddd McCarther shut him down.

 

2 minutes later, Eric Blanchard made an amazing pass from nearly the corner, right to the stick of Brandon Crowell as he crashed the Evergreens goal.  Wutke pushed off and went across the net, getting his pas, then his glove on the puck as Crowell looked skyward in disbelief, but believe it Brandon, Wutke robbed you.  On the next shift, Dan Keays blew a tire as he evaded Silas at his own blue line.  Silas took the puck in and fired a shot through a screen and beat the blocker of McCarther to level the game at 1s.

 

We then entered the Tigers era.  Lots of shots, lots of saves.  Then a controversial goal.  Mike McIsaac shot from behind the goal line and Derek Hale appeared to get his stick on the puck and get it off the line, but the goal was called, giving the Tigers the 2-1 lead.

 

Blake Irvine picked off a pass up the middle and he deked past 2 Tigers players before spotting Max Dewey, and Dewey made no mistake, going glove side for the game tying goal.  Things got a little physical near the end of the first as Brandon Crowell threw Silas Bonnell down to the ice after a Silas threw Crowell’s stick over the boards, Silas looked up at Crowell afterwards in his Find Out era.  Both went to the box to think about what they had done and were apologetic after the fact.

 

25-15 the Tigers were outshooting the Evergreens after 1, but the game was tied and the Evergreens search for the W was not yet called off.

 

In the first minute of action, Wutke faced numerous scoring chances and off a draw, Kurt Thibault went forward and deked past Wutke, stopping and going back against the grain.  He looked like he had an open net but Wutke reached out the stick and denied him, then got over just in time to deny Ron Beaton on the rebound.  He was doing everything in his power to stop the Tigers.  But he couldn’t stop everything, eventually the Tigers would make their way through the forest and it was another odd one.  Brandon Crowell took a hard shot on the net and Wutke made the glove save but didn’t catch it.  The two of them reached for the loose puck, Wutke diving and getting there first, knocking it below the goal line.  As he scrambled. To get back to his position, Crowell got the puck and fired it at the goaltender, hitting his pad.  The puck just barely crossed the line as Wutke swiped it away.  3-2 Tigers with 13:04 left to go.  

 

This was around the time the Evergreens should be falling apart based in previous trends, but not on this night.  Blake Irvine fed Luke Hawrylak for a one timer from the point and Calum MacKinnon was there for the quick tuck on the rebound and the game was tied once more, just a minute after the Crowell goal.

 

It was mostly Tigers the rest of the way, but despite outshooting the Evergreens 53-22, the teams wouldn’t score again, and we would need a shootout to solve this puzzle.  For the Evergreens, the single point was already their first of the season, but they wanted 2.

 

Luke Levangie went first.  His deke to the forehand was good enough to just beat the outstretched leg of McCarther for the goal.  Dan Keays tried to outwait Wutke, but couldn’t.  1-0 Evergreens.

 

Luke Hawrylak came in and deked to the backhand, going bar down to put the Evergreens up 2-0, Crowell would need to score to keep this going.  He deked to his backhand and lost the handle for a second, but got the shot off, though Wutke was not to be beaten, the Evergreens picked up the 4-3 shootout win, their first of the season.