Nest Building

After a big upset victory in game 1 of their first round playoff series, the Evergreens were hoping the day of green, St. Patrick’s Day, would be a day of good fortune for them.  The game sure began that way.  The first minute was all Evergreens as they had the first 5 shots on goal.  Matt Baird was getting himself into the game early, and when his team went to break out of their zone, Blake Irvine stripped Rohan Dempsey of the puck and went back toward the goal.  He released a shot along the ice and beat Baird five-hole.  1-0 Evergreens just 90 seconds into action as Rohan appeared to tap his chest, taking responsibility for the giveaway.

Rohan looked to atone for his mistake off the draw as he took a pass and entered Evergreen territory.  He made a pass to Matt Simpson across the goal mouth and Simpson was denied by Jamie Wutke as he made a big slide to his left.  The rebound dropped to Wutke’s right as Josh Stevens was fishing for goals.  Just as he went to knock the puck into the empty net, Wutke reached back with his stick and swiped it away and his team cleared the zone and went immediately up ice.  Luke Hawrylak ripped a high and hard shot the Baird managed to contain to keep the score 1-0.

We had seen a lot of action for the first 2 minutes, a sign of things to come?  Yes. Yes it was.  Off the draw, Simpson was on his way to the Evergreens net, beating the D and making a move on Wutke, but Jamie was up to his old tricks and made the save as Matt went five hole.

The Evergreens were pushing for more offense but not finding any real chances and then they gave the puck away in their own zone, right to Rohan Dempsey.  He took two strides and released a shot which beat Wutke under his arm and we were tied up at 1.

A couple minutes later the Evergreens nearly took the lead back, but Mike Bourgeois got his stick on a Max Dewey shot that was going toward the empty net after the puck came to him off the end boards.

The Osprey went to the power play and Travis Hatcher spotted Rohan sitting at the back post and his pass was good.  Rohan however missed it, and the puck went off his skate.  As he and Derek Hale looked for it, the puck came to Matt Simpson.  He spied the open cage and fired.  Jamie Wutke with the save of the year award as he dove across and caught the puck just ahead of the goal line to keep the game tied.

On the same power play, Rohan was going to the net when he met two defenders.  He mishandled his pass and the Evergreens thought they had him, but no, he whacked it over to Matt Simpson and this time he couldn’t miss the empty net.  The Osprey were up 2-1.  The Osprey took over from there.  40 seconds later, Scott Stewart and Matt Pare had a give and go which Stewart put in blocker side, the Scott got another just 40 seconds after that as the Osprey found themselves suddenly up 4-1.

Blake Irvine was firing everything he could on the Osprey goal, but nothing was going past a dialled in Matt Baird.

A minute into the second, the Evergreens thought they had clawed one back when Silas Bonnell let rip a bomb from his back foot as he was going down.  It was called no goal, but the replay appears to show the puck had hit the back bar, in and out in a hurry.

The Evergreens works to get another one, but it just wasn’t meant to be.  The Osprey extended their lead midway through the period and that was that.  The Osprey finished building their nest atop the trees with a minute to go, winning 6-1 and tying the series.  These teams will play the deciding game next Wednesday in what promises to be a thriller.