Lions Run Over Eurekas

The Lions and Eurekas were playing an important game Tuesday night as the were 2 of the teams in the 4th place love triangle.  The Tigers, the other piece, were at home on Tuesday awaiting results.  The Lions were sitting a point ahead of the Eurekas and ahead of the Tigers in tiebreakers, so a win would lock down 4th and a matchup with Norm Gallant’s Tigers in the first round.  A Eurekas win would leave the door open to see the Lions drop to 6th, depending on their game tonight vs the Osprey.

 

On the first shift of the game, Jarrett Carter took a shot that missed the net by inches and rimmed around to Kyle Weatherbee at the point.  Weatherbee shot on goal and Carter got his stick on the puck, changing its direction massively.  It went right down and off the foot of Brian Collins and in to put the Lions ahead early.

 

The Lions could have doubled their lead 15 seconds later, but Connor Tousignant whiffed on a one timer.  He redeemed himself on his next shift though, tipping a Stephen Warwick point shot through the legs of Ashton Speight to make it 2-0 Lions.

 

Ashton was sitting in the centre of a shooting gallery as the Lions peppered him.  It was a rimmed around puck that the Eurekas hesitated on and Iain Duncan did not, that led to the next Lions goal.  Duncan zipped a pass across to Dustin Hall waiting on the back door.  He one-timed it in, and it was 3-0 Lions as the yellow guys were in full control of the game.

 

Jamie Wutke, filling in for an absent Trevor Pate, was starting to get bored in the Lions goal, not facing many shots, but Jake Rankin used his wheels to get around the Lions defence and had a good shot on him that Wutke shut down, and then 10 seconds later had an ever better scoring chance that Wutke fought off with his glove, but the Eurekas were just struggling to generate the offence they are often able to find.  Even Dylan Warren wasn’t able to crack the code as he had only a couple shots on goal in the period.

 

With just over 5 minutes left in the first, Iain Duncan got himself free on a breakaway and as he moved to the backhand, Brian Collins hooked him.  The boys all waited to see if it would be a penalty shot, but the call was just 2 minutes.  The Lions ended their power play pretty quickly, but not by scoring.  Evan Ridley forced a turnover at the blueline and as he pressed for a scoring chance, he was hooked and we moved to some 4 on 4 hockey for a bit.

 

With 2 minutes left in the first, Keith Webb fed Connor Tousignant in front, and through a tied up stick, he got enough of the puck to direct it up and on goal.  Ashton made a Hellebuyckian save as he reached back with his stick and knocked the puck wide of the goal.  Then Jarrett Carter tried the bank shot which went off Speight then off Tousignant’s skate as he tried to get his stick on it, knocking it back off Speight.  Then, with Ashton literally facing the post Keith Webb backhanded the loose puck and Speight spun and made another save and got the whistle.  One of the craziest save sequences of the entire season, we just needed to wait until the last week to see it.

 

The Lions had another crazy sequence 30 seconds later as Tousignant made a crazy redirection on a shot going wide.  Speight knocked it out of his crease but right to Jarrett Carter who had the open net but hit the post.  The period would end with the Lions up 3-0.

 

One of the best Eurekas chances of the game came off Speight making a stretch pass to Dylan Warren early in the second.  He got through the D and tried to deke Wutke, but Wutke made the save and the shut Warren down on the rebound as well as he kept his shutout bid in play.

 

Constantly in a state of being snake bitten, almost as if he is Stephen Warwick from Australia, Warwick hit the far post on a 2 on 1 and then as he passed the net, the puck came back towards him.  He dove back to try to knock it into the empty net, but his backhand was in the wrong angle and hit Speight as he slid across.

 

It took 9 minutes to get our first goal in the 2nd period, and a nice pass from Keith Webb to Andrew MacDonald in front and he quickly put it in to make it 4-0 Lions.  The goal completed the set for the Lions as they are the first team to have every player score a goal this season.

 

The Lions would add 2 more goals, one from Kyle Weatherbee who had his first 3 point game of the season, and then by Warwick who finished off some nice passing.  But before Warwick got the Lions 6th goal, Evan Ridley stole a puck in the Lions end and dangled some boys and went roof to ruin the shutout.

 

With a 6-1 win, the Lions booked their playoff matchup vs the Tigers.  The Eurekas could face any of the Osprey, Aurora, or Norsemen, and will need to wait until Friday’s games are done before they know that answer.