Aurora Ryding The Norsemen

The Norsemen entered Tuesday night’s action in 2nd o,ace, but the Aurora were lining up against them with the chance to overtake them.

 

Matt Ryder was fresh off hitting 200 Nomad points and was eyeing the all time lead.  The Norsemen were just looking to keep Ryder to as few points as possible.  It only took Ryder 45 seconds to get a scoring chance.  That was thwarted by Norsemen legend Robin Gareau.  Illegally.  He dumped Ryder and then went to the box where he would have to think about how his helmet is probably older than most Nomad players.

 

Aurora PP2 came out and Lacey nearly setup No Show Marsh in the slot, but he was still remembering how to play and missed the pass.  Josh Beaudreau got the puck at the line and spotted his girlfriend watching in the corner.  He went into the zone and tried to make a pass but ended up with a giveaway to Brendan Hawboldt who cleared the zone.  The Norsemen would kill the penalty, but not the hope and determination of the Aurora.  Ryder would zing a shot off the shoulder of Phil Sprague and as the puck went back out, Ryder knocked it down and sent a backhander on goal which Sprague got his stick on just in time.

 

The Norsemen needed to pay more attention to the “Grind Guys” (copyright Nomad Hockey League 2025).  The line with Steve Power and Nathan Bessey, the white helmet Grind Guys were working the Norsemen D.  Then Bessey showed that he wasn’t just a Grindr, no, he’s also a sniper.  His shot chimed off the post to the left of Sprague, a sound as close as you can get to a religious experience in hockey as the puck went into the net behind the Norsemen goalie. 1-0 Aurora.

 

Robin Gareau collected his second hit of the night as he bowled over Steve Power to the left of Nick Stryniak, but it didn’t draw the ref’s attention as Gareau skated back to his point.  Matt Ryder took that personally.  He made a solo effort and did a backhand wraparound that beat Sprague to make it 2-0 Aurora.

 

Brandon Marsh had a one time chance, but as part of his attempt to re-learn hockey, he shanked the shot 12 feet wide of the net.  Dylan Kugler, he didn’t miss the net, he took a pass from Rob Manteuffel and fired it in to get the Norsemen on the board.

 

Nick Stryniak had a huge pad save on Landon Miron and as Landon went to get the puck in the corner, Matt Ryder stole it and threw on the nitros.  His shot deflected over the glass, but the message was sent, and after the Norsemen cleared the zone off the draw, Ryder got the puck back.  He skated to the zone and Nathan Bessey touched the puck, nearly messing Ryder up.  Matt would deke through the blue and gold and then, with everyone paying attention to him, the second of the Grind Guys would be in front.  Steve Power had the easy tap in goal to make it 3-1.

 

Rob Manteuffel said “you think that was pretty? Look at this.”  He then got the goal back by breaking Mike Gilmore’s ankles, making Lacey’s wussy attempt at a check be as useless as it looked, and then sniping just over the pad and under the blocker of Stryniak.  Phil Sprague would pick up an apple on the play.

 

Bobby Sacre would get a gift of a goal as Blake Isenor deflected his centring attempt into the net, the 4th Aurora goal of the night.  We’ll come back to that.

 

Kugler would get that one back less than a minute later with a little chip shot in front of the Aurora goal, but the Norsemen wouldn’t beat Stryniak again in this night.

 

The second period would be the Aurora’s.  After a collision behind the Norsemen goal between Bobby Sacre and Blake Isenor, Brandon Marsh would miss an open net and then with Sprague back in position, Marsh would get another shot and it somehow trickled through and into the net.  Brandon Marsh is back. Watch out.

 

Matt Ryder would score on a tic tac toe play for a 4 point night, enough to tie him for the all time point lead. The Aurora would take the win, but we definitely need to make mention of Steve Power not poking in a loose puck behind Phil Sprague because he felt bad.  Watch out Steve that’s “do not draft list” kinda behaviour.  

 

The Aurora currently sit in second place, where they will remain no matter how the rest of the week plays out.  The Norsemen are in 3rd but could drop as low as 5th by the time Thursday night wraps up.