Norsemen Hunt For Christmas Trees

With no regulation wins, and no captain in the lineup, the Evergreens were a rudderless ship on Thursday night.  They barely had enough players on the bench to start the game as the boys were just having a chat in the room, but despite no captain at the helm, the Evergreens were more on course than they’ve been all year.  The game may have started slowly, but the Evergreens were actually more in control than the Norsemen for the first bit.

5 minutes into the game, after traded chances, the curtains came up, and surprise surprise, it was the Landon show, airing in prime time.  He stole the puck from a Luke, we won’t say which one, and in Landon went, uncontested until he got to Jamie Wutke.  Miron deked and went five hole to make it 1-0 Norsemen against the flow of the game.

Evergreens however, never give up, and Blake Irvine grabbed a rebound off his own teammate and fired it past the glove of Phil Sprague to tie the game a mere 45 seconds later.  Then the Evergreens would learn that the Landon show has supporting characters as Dylan Kugler finished off a nice passing play with a low shot on the deke to make it 2-1 Norsemen as quickly as they had relinquished their first lead.

With 2 minutes left in the first, Cobee MacNaughton setup Luke Hawrylak who smoked the crossbar with a shot.  The puck came back out to him through the legs of Sprague and Luke slammed home the rebound.  2-2.  Then, after dangling everyone, Miron dropped the puck back to Robin Gareau.  Robin looked like Rock Hands Rowan as his shot went nowhere and the puck went down to the Norsemen’s zone.  Sitting at centre and the clock ticking down to the end of the period, Landon was up for a final first period go at the net.  He took the pass from Nick Marshall and was once more alone on Wutke.  And once more he deked, this time going around Jamie and backhanding the puck in with 2 seconds left on the clock.

The Evergreens collectively slumped.  They had been playing well, but the score was not in their favour.  Early in the second period, Kenny Shea would get himself into penalty trouble.  Shea, known for being greasy at every opportunity, could only lament the fact that he didn’t do more to deserve the penalty, he wished he had really done some damage.  The Norsemen, now they know a thing or two about doing damage.  This time it was Ray Carrigan sending a pass to Rob Manteuffel whose one timer from one knee, went to the back of the net.  She’s barely had time to find a comfortable spot to sit in the box before he had to return to the bench.  

Blake Irvine got the Evergreens within a goal when he tipped Zack Walsh’s point shot.  The Norsemen immediately replied with Landon completing the hatty and off the next draw, he won the puck over to Nick Marshall.  Marshall skated in and got the shot.  James Harrison grabbed the rebound and one touched it to the back of the net.  All 'the while, Landon was stood at centre, not moving an inch.  

Cobee MacNaughton would get one more for the Evergreens with an absolute rip top corner, but ultimately, the Evergreens would fall once more.  They have one more chance to get a regulation win in 2025 as they face the Lions in the league’s final game before the Christmas break.