Lions Roar past Aurora

The Lions and Aurora had rink C on Tuesday as their matchup drew the big crowds.  The 2nd place Aurora had yet to defeat the Lions this season, and unfortunately they would once again, be missing their leading scorer for this matchup, as Matt Ryder was unhealthy scratched.

The Aurora always work hard though and bang brothers Steve Power and Nathan Bessey, went to work.  Power sent a pass to Bessel in the opening minute that just missed being a breakaway as Bessel put his stick flat on the ice to corral the puck.  Instead Joey Richard skated away with it.

Most of the first couple minutes were spent in the Lions zone, a period which included a nice Lacey Dangle that Trevor Pate needed to be sharp to stop.  The next shift would move the puck to the other end and Jamie Richard picked a pocket and then beat Nick Stryniak blocker side, just under the arm, to make it 1-0 Lions.

Stephen Warwick won a battle at his own blue line and went in on Stryniak but Nick made the save, then Mike Gilmore deflected a Tousignant shot away from the net later in the shift.  Tyler Selvet broke through. Couple checks at the other end but Pate made a stick save on him.

Andrew MacDonald had a beauty chance when Tousignant fed him a pass for a one timer.  Stryniak slid across to deny him the goal, then stopped a Jarrett Carter tip and rebound.  Chances were plentiful, but we wouldn’t see a goal until the final few minutes.

Dustin Hall skated out from behind the Aurora goal and sent a backhand off the side of the mask of Stryniak and then the crossbar.  As the Stryniak called for the play to be stopped from the mask hit, Tyler Selvet carried on up ice.  He went all the way down behind the goal line and passed to David Lacey in front.  Lacey shot it top shelf to tie the game at 1 with 2:20 left in the first period.

Tyler Selvet would be issued an unsportsmanlike penalty on the play.  When they got off the ice, the captains decided they’d reduce the penalties to 2 and a half minutes instead of the usual 3 during a run time game (as we lacked a timekeeper on this occasion).  Dusty told Lacey he’d pause the clock for 10 seconds to make the penalty end at the end of the period, and he did so at the next face off.  Selvet left the box at the end of the period.  Much to the confusion of those that didn’t hear the captain’s conversation.

Play resumed in the second and no-one could remember how to get scoring chances for a couple minutes.  We had Josh Beaudreau and Dave Matthew’s collide, then Mike Gilmore and Keegan Lewis got tied up, Keegan going down hard as the Lions fumbled the puck at the side of the net.  Finally a decent scoring chance came in and it was Keegan Lewis, on a three game scoring streak, but he couldn’t beat Stryniak, instead opting for a shot to his chest.  Jarrett Carter put a backhander off the side of the post at the end of the same shift, the score remained tied.

A wild play a few minutes into the second period came about off a Brandon Marsh off wing shot.  The puck went off the left shoulder of Trevor Pate, then Nathan Bessey knocked it out of the air towards the goal.  It went off Pate’s stick and up in the air towards Bessey’s knee.  He moved his knee toward the puck as he also lowered his stick.  At the same moment it connected with him, Steve Power came flying in and knocked the puck out of the air and into the goal.  The ref immediately called no goal, saying the puck was kicked in.  Upon review after the game, it became clear it was a mistake as the ref believed it went off Bessey’s knee and in, but we can’t change it after the fact.  We played on, tied at 1 still.

The Lions took advantage a few minutes later, Jarrett Carter feeding Iain Duncan in front, and his shot went five hole to give the Lions the 2-1 lead.  Josh Beaudreau got it right back when he knocked a rebound out of the air, then fought off a Joey Richard check to poke in the puck.  

Kirk Levy took a shot on goal with just under 3 minutes left to play and Dustin Hall went for the deflection, missing it, but the puck went off his shin pad and past the glove of Stryniak to give the Lions a late lead.

Nomad fastest skater Stephen Warwick then got an Andrew MacDonald pass and had one man to beat, Dave Matthews?  He beat him once, then twice, and as Bobby Sacre neared for the back check, he fired, beating the blocker of Stryniak.  The Lions were up 4-2 and that’s where it ended.