Dogs Can’t Climb Trees

Some games are games you’d wish to forget, some are games you wish to remember.  It’s often that depending on the team you play for, you will feel one way, while the opposition feels the reverse.  Thursday’s matchup between the Evergreens and Greyhounds would prove to be one of such occasions.

 

The Greyhounds were starting the game shorthanded in terms of manpower.  Missing their captain Connor MacPherson, the Dogs looked to Greg Delano to for leadership.  With the mic on for the Nomad documentary, Greg set the lines and shifted players to different positions. Jeff Snow would be placed of defense as he stepped up to support the team.

 

The Evergreens were bringing a full roster to the festivities, hopeful that fresh legs could help them score more than 4 in a game for the first time this season, but more importantly, earn their first regulation win.  It was going to be a battle.

 

Greg Delano nearly put in a rebound 30 seconds in but the puck was bouncing too much and he couldn’t get it to sit as Wutke got a glove on it.  Back up ice Blake Irvine had a slot chance but put it in Logan MacLean’s chest.

 

Luke Levangie made some good moves to get a scoring chance shortly after but he couldn’t bear Logan either.  He looked like he may try the Michigan later in the shift but Connor LeBlanc was there to strip him of the puck.

 

The Evergreens Tyler Carr was cosplaying as a forward 2 minutes into the game when he got the puck at the side of the goal and quickly fired a shot.  It went off the side of the net and Connor LeBlanc reached in to help his goalie.  He knocked the puck up and over Logan’s pad and right onto the goal line.  Jeff Snow was there to clear the puck before the Evergreens Rob Emberley could whack it in.  A close call.

 

A point shot nearly took the heads off Derek Hale and Bryan Gillis who were involved in a battle in front of the goal.  Those two would collide 10 seconds later when Gillis was trying to break into the Evergreens zone.  Both players went down, Hale going all the way to the end boards as the puck went to the point then the shot came in.  Gillis tipped it and it missed the net by inches.

 

Cobee MacNaughton brought the puck out of the Evergreens zone and he went all the way.  He deked to the backhand and put his shot off the post and in to put the green machine up 1-0.  

 

Drew LeFrank came close to a response the next shift as his shot went off Jamie Wutke, into the air and was cleared from the crease, the Brock Bethune waited out Wutke but sent the puck just wide.

 

The Evergreens would have made it 2-0 as Luke Levangie wrapped the puck around, but Jeff Snow made his second goal, line save of the game as he was playing strong defensively.  He then kept the puck in the Evergreens zone with a nice header.  This solid shift would not end well for Jeff Snow.  As he and Connor LeBlanc both reached in to stop a Callum MacKinnon from splitting them, LeBlanc leaned into the body too heavily.  Snow was collateral damage.  MacKinnon was knocked into Snow, hitting his shoulder to Jeff’s head, and Jeff dropped.  He lay on the ice for a minute and when he went to get up, his legs buckled.  Mat McLeod and a Ryan Gillis helped him to the bench, where he would remain the rest of the game.

 

The Greyhounds were now down from 10 men to 9 and on the PK.  Greg Delano nearly scored a shorty but couldn’t get it in, and he batted it out of the air and almost off Wutke’s back, but it would have been a high stick anyway.

 

Blake Irvine shanked a Cobee pass as he tried the one timer with a gaping cage, but the Greyhounds would kill LeBlanc’s penalty, though he’d go right back there after high sticking Silas.  In all fairness, one doesn’t need to raise their stick to high sticking Silas, alas, LeBlanc was already sitting in 2 penalties, knowing 3 would be an ejection.

 

LeBlanc wouldn’t have to sit long.  Just 5 seconds into the power play, the Evergreens struck again, this time it was Michael Finlayson.  He took a shot that was much harder than his goal vs the Eurekas, beating Logan to the glove side just off the ice.

 

The Evergreens weren’t done though, with 1:55 left in the opening frame, they struck once more.  Luke Levangie in the mix all game, found the back of the net.  Jamie Wutke set the puck up behind the Evergreens goal and Tyler Carr, after fanning on his first pass attempt, hit Levangie with the second and Luke came in and went top corner for the 3-0 lead.

 

Drew LeFrank missed wide on a 2 on 1 as the Greyhounds failed to find a response.  Kyle Gouthro drew a penalty then his the post on the power play in the final minute of the first as the Evergreens took the 3-0 lead into the second.

 

Greg Delano finally broke the shutout on the power play early in the second.  Just a couple seconds were left as Derek Hale stood waiting to get back on to the ice.  The point shot came in and Delano stopped it and deked past Wutke on the backhand.

 

Ivan Kravchenko restored the 3 goal lead less than a minute later with a backhand rebound goal over Logan’s blocker.  After so many times watching a lead go south, the Evergreens were staying motivated, willing their team to victory.  Luke Levangie helped in the cause getting his second of the night just 90 seconds later, taking the back door feed and putting it into the empty side of the net, 5-1 Evergreens with 13:35 left to play.  Ample time for a comeback.

 

The game had already been played on the edge, both teams desperate for the 3 points, but when Noah Joncas took a charging penalty for a hit on Blake Irvine, that escalated quickly.  The game quickly became more physical, the stick work increased, the chirps were flying.  Despite the power play, the Evergreens would watch Noah leave the box with a reduced lead.  Bryan Gillis’s shorty off a broken Delano play was a backhander that nearly hit Tyler Carr in the face but luckily for him hit the water bottle instead and made it 5-2 with 9:29 to play and the Greyhounds felt a little life.

 

Hale and Gillis would once again get into it at the blue line as Hale took a seat on top of a Gillis for a rest.  This time it was the Evergreens who would get themselves a shorthanded goal, Luke Hawrylak saw an errant Greyhounds pass and rushed up ice, beating Mat McLeod to the puck then going top glove.

 

Greg Delano spotted Ashley Leonard open at the side of the goal on the same power play as Leonard redirected the puck into the net. Irvine and Joncas got into it a bit before the goal as Blake looked to respond to the earlier hit he received from Joncas.  

 

As time ticked down, the gentlemanly conduct was leaving the building and pointless dickery arrived, the penalty minutes were about to elevate.  In all this animosity, the Evergreens max Dewey would snipe on a breakaway and then Blake Irvine would score 8 seconds later off a shot that deflected off a Greyhounds defenceman’s stick.  Drew LeFrank would score shorthanded, the third shorty of the game, and then Luke Levangie would complete the hatty 8 seconds later in the power play, the 4th PPG of the game.  

 

The game ended on a sour note as Rob Emberley took exception to being rubbed out by Brock Bethune, and then everyone but the goalies got involved.

Lost in the mayhem is that the Evergreens joined the club of teams with a regulation win, and were ever quoted as saying "watch out, the Nomad Cup is next", so you may want to watch out.

These teams will meet each other next Wednesday in a game that will be closely watched by the officials, as we hope to see the players remember that the scouts are not coming, and we all need to work the next day.