Weekly Roundup

The Nomad Hockey League entered its 8th weeks with the Osprey and Evergreens at the outer reaches of the standings, the Osprey soaring to the top, while the Evergreens were just pine cones waiting to take root, so low that they were below the bottom.  These teams would be facing each other, but not on night one of the week.

 

With 14 points, the Aurora sat in a tie for second with the Lions, so a win over the Tigers would give them an edge early in the week.  The Tigers, sitting in second last, wanted to move up, but when they got the the rink and saw that the Aurora were short staffed, meaning Matt Ryder would be out there creating nightmares for the Defense while barely coming off the ice, they weren’t feeling confident.

 

Goaltender Josh McCarther, a first round draft pick, had been playing well without good results, and Norm Gallant wanted to help Josh out, so he decided to actually play some D this week instead of always going for the end to end rush and the dangles.  The Tigers were missing Kurt Thibault, but Ron Beaton led the way, scoring a hat trick, giving him 4 on the season.  Shane Whitman, Dan Keays, Chris Stickings, and Mike McIsaac would also score as the Tigers put up 7 on the fading Aurora.  The Aurora players putting up goals on the night were conspicuously absent.  Josh McCarther recorded his first shutout of the season, the 4th goaltender to do so this season.

 

Unfortunately for the Tigers, the win wouldn’t move them out of 7th in the standings.

 

On the other ice sheet, the Greyhounds and Norsemen were playing, and the Norsemen’s Rob Manteuffel popped things off just 25 seconds in as his line remained hot.  The Greyhounds, fresh off “chatgate”, were trying to come together as Mat McLeod responded a minute later.

 

Ray Carrigan would put the Norsemen up 2-1 a couple minutes later and then Landon Miron scored back to back goals as the Norsemen finished the period up 6-1.  Just over a minute into the second period, Landon Miron made a beauty pass to Darren Ells after deking out the goalie, and Darren scored an easy goal.  The assist for Landon marks his 100th point in the Nomad Hockey League.  The Greyhounds would try to comeback, and even managed a couple more goals, getting as close as 7-3, but Nick Marshall scoring with 3:48 left would be the nail in the coffin.  The goal was Marshall’s 99th point in the league as he will aim for number 100 in his next game.

 

The Normsen won 8-4, good enough for 4th place in the standings, while the Greyhounds are 3rd from the bottom.

 

Our Wednesday night matchup between the Osprey, who hadn’t lost in regulation, vs the Evergreens who hadn’t won in regulation, promised an easy Osprey win.  At least that was Matt Simpson’s mindset as he entered action.  The Evergreens were not keen on letting anyone dictate their destiny however.  

 

The tale was going as expected early as Dorian Brooks potted the first marker.  Then Josh Stevens scored NHL goal 99 off a rebound in front.  Josh claimed he would score 99 and then retire, but the paperwork for his retirement is yet to cross the desk of league administrators.  Cobee MacNaughton was gifted a puck when alone by the Osprey goalie and that made it 2-1 Osprey, which was how the first ended.  

 

Rohan Dempsey converted on the power play early in the second, but Cobee was on fire and got his second unassisted goal of the game and season before Luke Levangie also scored his second of the year on the PP.  With 3:20 left in the game, Blake Irvine scored and the Evergreens has their first lead of the night.  Matt Simpson ruined the party with 1:32 left in the game to tie it up and off to the shootout we went, the Evergreens securing points in consecutive games.

 

The Evergreens got up by a goal and as the very last shooter, Simpson needed a goal to tie it up.  He skated to the left wing and cut towards the net.  He pulled the puck between the legs and shot.  The Osprey gasped.  The Evergreens breathed a sigh of relief, and Matt Simpson could only turn back and look at the puck he left behind as he fanned on the shot.  Despite picking up only one point, the Osprey maintained first place, regardless of the outcome of the final game of the week between the Lions and Eurekas.  The Evergreens are yet to win in regulation but have scored back to back shootout wins, and are the only team to have multiple shootout victories as of yet this season.

 

Thursday night’s game was the Lions game from puck drop.  Taylor McKay opened the scoring with a beauty shot off the post and in, which Iain Duncan showed up with an even better shot that went across the body of Ashton Speight and into the top corner.  After a lengthy delay due to a goaltender skate issue, the second period began with the Lions ahead 2-0 and out chancing the Eurekas significantly.

 

Jarrett Carter’s 9th of the season    was another highlight reel goal as he tucked the puck around Speight from in close to make it 3-0.  Dylan Warren had a beauty of a shot that beat Trevor Pate to ruin the shutout with 7:15 to go, but Connor Tousignant banged in a rebound to make it 4-1 for the Lions, and that’s how it would end.  The Lions finished the week in 2nd place, just one point back of the Osprey.  The Eurekas loss sees them drop from 4th to 5th place.

 

This week is our first week where we don’t have every team in action due to the female SEDMHA tournament going on at the RBC Centre, and the Evergreens are worried about having their heat extinguished without a game, while the Aurora will have to sit on their rough loss for an extra week.