No Delano? No Problemo.

After over 5 months of hockey, the Nomad Hockey League regular season wrapped up, and the playoffs were set to begin with two games on tap on Tuesday night.  First up, the 2nd place Aurora vs the 7th place Greyhounds.

 

The Aurora had a pretty full lineup, missing two important pieces; the grittier Ryder brother, Chris, and goaltender Nick Stryniak.  The Greyhounds were running with exactly 2 lines, and missing leading scorer Greg Delano, whose playoff allergy was acting up.

 

The teams took their time feeling each other out.  Then Josh Beaudreau threw a point shot towards the net.  Greyhounds defenseman Noah Joncas tipped it, and it also tipped off David Lacey’s stick, and went just wide of Logan McaLean’s net.   

 

Kyle Gouthro went for a rush into the Aurora zone, but Matt Ryder knocked it off his stick to Bobby Sacre.  Bobby made an outlet pass towards Birthday boy Rowan, who chipped it off the boards to Ryder.  Matt went outside on one man, then Brandon Marsh helped out by lifting Gouthro’s stick as he tried to check Ryder.  Matt nearly lost the puck to Mat McLeod, but he had the puck on a string and got through, putting Logan off his angle and Matt Ryder scored the first goal of the playoffs.  Kyle Gouthro seemed to injure his shoulder on the play.  He would sit a few shifts, but would finish the game.

 

Matt Ryder nearly had his second as he stepped into a wrister after walking off the blue line where he was covering for Bobby Sacre.  Logan absorbed the shot into his midsection, but peeked behind himself for a moment as he held on.

 

A great rush by Drew LeFrank as the Greyhounds forward pulled off a sweet toe drag and had some room to shoot, he just missed high blocker side as the Dogs sought their first goal.  Brock Bethune entered the zone and made a drop pass to Mat McLeod.  McLeod took the shot and beat Josh McCarther low on the blocker side as the game was tied at 1 with just under 10 left in the first.

 

The Aurora went to the power play and Steve Power nearly scored twice on net front chances in the first 30 seconds, but Logan MacLean stretched to deny them both.  Plenty of shots got to the net on the 2 minute man advantage but nothing got through MacLean, and the Greyhounds even managed a shorthanded 2 on 1 which Josh McCarther had to make a nice save on Bryan Gillis.  Gillis would get another decent chance a minute later, but his clapper went well wide of the net as he shook his head in disgust at himself.

 

Brock Bethune wound up a shot coming down the left wing and beat McCarther along the ice to put the Greyhounds in front with 1:33 left in the first.  That’s where the first left off.

 

In the second period, the game, which was already getting a little physical, got even more so as a cloud of frustration was settling in over the Aurora bench.  The Greyhounds started off playing to defend the lead.  Then Connor LeBlanc went for a rush and missed just over the crossbar and they started pressing a bit for more.  Brock Bethune was on fire and he took a good shot low that McCarther got a toe on, but he had confidence he could get another for the Greyhounds.

 

David Lacey went on a rush and deked through a couple of players, getting just a one handed poke of a shot on net as the Greyhounds dug in to get back on him.  Then Logan set the puck up for Noah Joncas at the side of the goal, and Noah went for a rip.  He deked through 2 players and wound up a slapshot.  McCarther made the blocker save and the rebound went off the end boards.  Joncas was coming in and he got his own rebound and shot low.  The puck squeaked through the legs of the netminder and it was 3-1 Greyhounds with 11:08 remaining in the second.  You could see the shoulders of the Aurora players slump as belief was slipping away.

 

But you never give up hope with a guy like Matt Ryder in the lineup.  The Aurora pressure started back up, but their zone time was amounting to nothing as Connor MacPherson had his team playing team defense.  Then the Aurora failed twice to clear the puck from their own zone.  Drew LeFrank took the puck from Bryan Gillis and fought off 2 checks as he got to net.  He deked under the poke check and around McCarther, then shot off the post and in to make it 4-1 Greyhounds as he flew through the air like Bobby Orr.

 

Kyle Gouthro tried to extend the lead even further on a rush but he fanned on his shot, likely due to his shoulder injury earlier in the game.  The Aurora immediately went up ice and Matt Ryder dropped the puck off to Dave Matthews who went D to D to Josh Beaudreau.  Josh had a lane and took a couple strides in before wristing his shot on goal.  He beat Logan clean on the blocker side to make it 4-2 with 4:18 left.  “Plenty of time left” Lacey yelled to his team as he tried to rally the troops.

 

The troops were feeling rallied, but then Nathan Bessey and Bryan Gillis were going for a puck when the two bumped and Gillis went flying into the boards.  Bessey was assessed a 5 minute major for boarding on the play and was off to the showers early.  The Aurora would spend the last 3 minutes of the game shorthanded and down by 2, not the best situation for a comeback.

 

After a good effort rush by Bobby Sacre ended without much fanfare, the Greyhounds had a chance of their own as Connor LeBlanc got in alone and deked to the backhand, but he was stopped by McCarther.  Then the Aurora were sending another man to the box.  On the 5 on 3, the Greyhounds sealed the deal as Brock Bethune passed a rebound to Kyle Gouthro who slid the puck into the open net as he declared his shoulder fit for action.

 

The Greyhounds 5-2 win marks the first upset victory of the playoffs as they are now just one more win away from a series victory.  The Aurora are determined to send this thing to 3 games, so expect some intensity next time these teams play on the 17th.