Eurekas and Tigers in a great game

The Eurekas and Tigers played our final game of the week on Wednesday night and it was a great battle.  The Tigers went hard off the opening draw and it begged the early question; would this be a Wagon night for Norm and the Tigers?

 

Glenn Boyce pinched and made a feed to Brandon Crowell 40 seconds into the game and Ashton Speight had to be quick to stop the shot from right in front of him.  

 

The Eurekas came back up the ice right away and Evan Ridley did a sick little between the legs move in front of Josh McCarther that could have made for a nice goal had the Tigers not knocked the puck away right after the move was completed.

 

Dan Keays was break in out of his zone and he saw little wisp Kyle Publicover and went for the easy dangle, but Kyle surprised him, stripping Keays of the puck and taking it into the Tigers zone.  Pubby spotted Jake Rankin flying into the zone and hit him with the pass.  Rankin was in alone on McCarther and deked to the backhand, taking Josh’s stick with him as he froze the goaltender and tucked the puck in on the backhand for the 1-0 Eurekas lead at 9:10 of the first.

 

It took 90 seconds for a Tigers response and that came when Shane Whitman picked off a breakout pass at the blue line, just barely inside, he redirected the puck to Brandon Crowell who beat Ashton Speight low.

 

Slowly, the Eurekas were amassing a larger and larger shot total and it all seemed to start when Carter Nickerson blocked a shot and then hit Dylan Warren with a stretch pass for a breakaway.  He deked to the backhand but McCarther made the save look easy.  Then less than 10 seconds later, Warren 2as at it again as he made Norm Gallant look like Kyle Weatherbee as he dangled the bearded beauty and went in alone once more.  This time he elected to shoot, and again, McCarther made the stop calmly and easily.  Warren then got the puck again, I think there is a theme here, and his shot came from farther out as he was looking gassed.  He went off the ice, having brought the shots to 13-9 for the Eurekas with 6 minutes left in the period.

 

Kyle Publicover got the puck behind the Tigers zone and turned with a no look pass which we in the newsroom have decided must have been as a coaching tool, a perfect demonstration of why you don’t just toss a puck in front all willy nilly.  The pass hit absolutely zero players and the Eurekas exited the zone.  Derick Levesque collected the puck in the Eurekas zone and fed Matt Anderson.  Anderson understood the assignment and gave the puck back to Levesque as he accelerated up ice.  Derick went around Norm like the pylon he is dressed as and then chipped a shot bar down over the right shoulder of McCarther and it was 2-1 Eurekas.  The errant pass by the Wisp was suddenly an assist.

 

 

With 2 left in the first, Glenn Boyce got a little scared when Dylan Warren was pressuring him and he poked the puck a little too far ahead of himself.  Carter Nickerson thanked him for the giveaway and then as he neared the net, he passed to Warren whose shot went in on the blocker side.  3-1 Eurekas.

 

Nickerson then had a couple shots right after the goal, the latter of which was tipped by Ryan DeWolfe, forcing McCarther to make a good kick save. He then faced a one timer by Nomad hardest shot contender Matt Anderson and he got his stick on it, sending the puck over the glass.  A minute left in the period, and McCarther had faced over 20 shots already.

 

McCarther’s team would reward him for his hard work early in the second.  Glenn Boyce rushed the puck and did a button hook, spotting Chris Stickings, he passed.  Stickings wrister went just over the right pad of Speight and bulged the twine to bring the game within a goal.

 

Brandon Crowell just missed high and wide 30 seconds later as the momentum was shifting in the Tigers favour.  That was until Matt Anderson’s stretch pass to Dylan Warren forced Allan Beaton to hook Warren to thwart a scoring chance.  On the delayed penalty the Eurekas nearly scored and would have were it not for a good defensive play by Aiden Camphorst, so the Tigers comeback would have to wait while they killed the penalty.

 

Ok, but hold on, Camphorst blocked a pass from the point and out worked the defender and fed Crowell.  Brandon Crowell was all alone short handed and his shot went the same spot as Stickings’ shot, right over the pad.  The short handed goal tied the game.  “Great penalty Allen” was yelled toward the penalty box.

 

Despite a great baseball style keep in by Matt Anderson, the Eurekas wouldn’t convert on the power play, and we would proceed tied.  

 

Carter Nickerson had a wild 20 seconds as he got tripped by Norm Gallant going over the blue line.  He fought through it, getting up as he maintained possession.  Then he had a flyby check by Mike McIsaac.  Carter pulled the puck back as McIsaac’s stick scraped across his face.  He reached up to his cheek, no cut.  Then, still with possession, he measured up McCarter and shot, just missing wide.  Connor Slaunwhite got the puck which rimmed around to the point.  His shot was stopped and Carter got the rebound.  He got stick checked by Allan Beaton and lost his footing, he tried to deke around McCarther but Josh covered the puck and Nickerson fell over his pad and into the net.  A lot of work, but nothing to show for it.

 

Evan Ridley made a beauty pass through the crease and it zipped past Jake Rankin with the open net staring him down.  Would this epic miss cost the Eurekas?  

 

With the Eurekas on the power play and 4:07 left, the puck came around the back of the Tigers net on a shot wide to George Murray.  He moved quickly as McCarther was out of position.  He took the shot and the net came off from Josh’s push.  George raised his arms to celebrate the goal, but the ref said the net was off, no goal.  However both George and the ref didn’t seem to realize that McCarther had made a miraculous blocker save and the puck never came close to actually going in.  The game remained tied.

 

Down into the final 2 minutes and the deadlock was broken.  Jake Rankin and Dylan Warren were off to the races after Matt Anderson made an awkward sliding block in his own end.  Jake took the shot and Dylan buried the rebound.  Anderson would add an empty netter as the Eurekas secured the three points.