Tigers and Lions battle it out

Having gone to a 7 round shootout in game 1, the 4/5 series between the Lions and Tigers were living up to their billing as the tightest series.  The Lions knew that a win in this game was a must, and they started off the match by taking it to the Tigers but without shots on goal.  

 

Kurt Thibault rushed up ice and when he cut into the net for a shot, he was defended well and he could only manage a one handed pass out front to no-one.  Trevor pushed off the post in case there was a Tigers player there, but there wasn’t.  The net however, would come dislodged at 15:38. When the Tigers got the puck back, Norm Gallant took a point shot and Ron and Allan Beaton did the double deflection which Pate stopped with his left toe.

 

Iain Duncan threw a puck towards the net as Dustin Hall was skating into the net from the opposite side.  The puck went off a Tigers skate and skipped to Hall.  As he went to shoot at the open net, the puck skipped off the top of his blade and he shanked it wide, blowing the chance to give the Lions the 1-0 lead just over 2 minutes into action.  The Tigers bench definitely made sure to give Dusty shit for his miss.

 

Allan Beaton nearly made the Lions pay for their missed chance as 20 seconds later he found himself burning the D and alone on Trevor.  Pate made the save on the shot with his right pad to keep things scoreless.

 

Keegan Lewis took a puck in the high slot and his shot was stopped by Josh McCarther’s blocker but went to some bodies to his left.  Eric Blanchard fended off Andrew MacDonald as he tried to get the puck to the open net but the Lions kept the pressure on and a pass in front went off Andrew MacDonald’s skate and just wide of the cage.

 

Brandon Crowell broke out of the zone and as he got close to the net, he tried short side on Pate, but Trevor made the glove save and the puck deflected wide.  A minute later, Shane Whitman broke up a pass to the D and he was off.  Shaun MacIntosh tracked him down and lifted his stick as he shot, making for a weak shot on goal, and Shaun got called for hooking.

 

The Lions broke out on the PK, Stephen Warwick and Connor Tousignant.  Warwick’s pass hopped at the exact wrong moment and went over Tousignant’s stick.  Back to the Lions zone and the Tigers got the puck behind the net and Dan Keays passed out front to Crowell.  Pate went to push off the post, but it was still off its moorings from 4 minutes of play beforehand, so he couldn’t get his proper push, and despite that he got his glove on the puck, just not enough as it dropped down into the net to give the Tigers the 1-0 lead at 11:36.

 

A Lions D to D pass went off Greg Renouf’s stick and right on goal where Trevor Pate covered to, but was lucky to get a quick whistle as the puck popped loose as Renouf got to the net.

 

Brandon Crowell would get another decent chance but the pass from Keays was in his skates and he couldn’t get a good shot off before the Lions closed in on him.  

 

Despite having a bunch of zone time, the Lions were struggling to get shots on goal.  10 minutes in and the Tigers were doubled up 8 shots to 4.  The 5th shot though, that was a difference maker.  Jarrett Carter fed Keith Webb in front and he made no mistake with the one time shot from his knee to beat McCarther on his blocker side, tying the game with 6:41 to go in the opening frame.

 

The Lions continued to press.  Keith Webb was all over the ice for the Lions.  He took a feed from Hall and missed just over the net, then he tried to give it back to Dusty who had another open net but Eric Blanchard slid and got a piece of the pass, enough for Glenn Boyce to grab it as it slowed to a near stop.  Then Keegan Lewis got it to Webb in the slot and his shot was blockered away.

 

Matt Gendron came into the Tigers zone and went around the D, cut out in front and went to the backhand, the puck being stopped by the top of McCarther’s shoulder.  Gendron would get another chance a bit later in the shift when Tousignant made a cross crease pass off his skate.  The moment it took to get the puck to his stick was enough to see Josh slide too far too his right and Gendron’s shot would have beaten the netminder were it not for a good reach with the paddle of his stick.

 

The Lions were keeping the Tigers from their net and it was the Tigers making an errant pass in the Lions zone which sprung Jarrett Carter on the breakaway.  He shot and McCarther made the pad save.  Warwick followed the play and Josh made the sliding blocker save and knocked the net off, with the whistle being blown just as Tousignant got the puck alone in the slot.

 

Off the next draw, Keith Webb won the draw back and off the body of Dusty who tapped it back to Webb as he went to the net.  Webb made the backhand pass and Dusty took a one timer on the backhand, putting the puck between the legs of Josh to make it 2-1 Lions with 1:41 left in the first.  The shots were 19-9 for the Lions at this point as the momentum was fully on the Lions side.

 

Andrew MacDonald took a pass from Matt Gendron 30 seconds into the second and McCarther reached back with a hope and a prayer his stick in the air behind his pad, and he makes the save to keep the puck out of the net.  Then Andrew had a pass skip over his stick as the play came back around to him again.

 

MacIntosh and Gendron had a miscommunication and Greg Renouf was off on a breakaway, but he didn’t factor Joey Richard into the equation and he was tracked down and forced wide, sending a backhander in goal from a bad angle.

 

Kyle Weatherbee was feeling like he hadn’t had much attention so he sauced a pass up the middle which Brandon Crowell batted out of the air.  Weatherbee immediately went into defensive mode.  Crowell basically bowled him over as he drove the net.  He want backhand to forehand and shot glove side, but Pate made the save, working as hard as the defenders in front of him.

 

A number of minutes past with a few near misses but nothing amazing.  Then Crowell tried to get to the Lions goal with the puck and he went flying like Bobby Orr as Tousignant checked him.  He got the shot on goal and drew the penalty.  The Tigers were 1 for 1 on the PP so far and won the draw.  Keays passed it over to Aiden Camphorst across the blue line.  Shane Whitman went to the net and Weatherbee shoved him out of the way as Aiden’s shot came in.  Whitman got his stick on the puck which went off Trevor Pate’s mask, then the cross bar and into the bottom of the net.  The game was tied at 2, but still there remained nearly 10 minutes to play.

 

Josh McCarther misplayed a puck behind his own net and Warwick was there to make the steal.  He sent the puck out front and it went off Camphorst and towards the net, but Brandon Crowell was there to clear it from harm but not from the zone.  Jamie Richard took a low shot from the point which was tipped by Tousignant and just off McCarther’s toe and wide.

 

Kurt Thibault got the puck all alone in front of the Lions goal with what appeared to be a week of time, so he took a moment and tried to make a move on Pate rather than shoot right away, but Taylor McKay got there in a hurry and Thibault didn’t even manage to get a shot.

 

It was Power-Play time for the Lions with 6:24 left.  Stephen Warwick took a shot off Josh’s shoulder and was cleared from waiting sticks.  Shaun MacIntosh took a shot that went off the goalie’s pad then the glass and was going to land in the crease but Glenn Boyce tried to bat it away.  He just knocked it down in the crease and 3 Lions banged at the rebound which eventually slide just wide of the goal.

 

As play went up ice, Joey Richard finished his check on Kurt Thibault who got the pass off before the take down.  Crowell dove to get it, but the puck was just out of his reach.  The teams went to 4 on 4, and then that wound down with no goals, and the Tigers PP couldn’t manage a shot, the Lions took another penalty as Dan Keays went down.  And then Warwick got taken down as he split the D as the parade to the penalty box was upon us.

 

Connor Tousignant was looking to end this and his shot went off the shaft of McCarther’s stick as it was labelled for the top corner.  Then Hall threw a puck on goal and Tousignant put the rebound off the pad and Glenn Boyce’s skate stopped Warwick from having an open net to shoot at and he threw it back in front.  The puck was sitting there loose with Lions everywhere and the play was blown dead.

 

In the final minute, Keith Webb nearly scored as his shot went under the arm of McCarther and off his body, and then 2 rebounds later the puck was cleared.  That would be as close as we got to finishing this in regulation as the Lions outshot the Tigers 43 to 19, but the game was tied at 2.

 

The Tigers shot first, Brandon Crowell.  He came in slowly and picked his spot with a hard shot five hole to give the Tigers the advantage.  Stephen Warwick came up for the Lions and some nice footwork took him forehand to banckahnd as he scored to tie it.

Dan Keays missed glove side

Jamie Richard went low blocker and the puck went off the side of McCarther’s pad and wide

Kurt Thibault went to his backhand and missed the open net as Pate’s stick got caught under his skate and he went down.  The Tigers bench thought it was a goal but it then the Lions bench celebrate it not being in.

Keith Webb tried the Forsberg but McCarther got his stick on the puck to make the save

Allan Beaton got stopped on his backhand to the glove side

Iain Duncan tried sweeping the puck around Josh but McCarther made the pad save

Ron Beaton basically did what Crowell did, but with speed and he scored

Jarrett Carter with the pressure on his shoulders, he goes to the backhand and the shot goes under the arm of Josh who peeks behind him, the Tigers bench holds their breath, then the ref waves no goal as the puck hit the midsection of McCarther’s pad and goes wide.

 

Two games, two extended shootouts required to find the winner, this series could not have been closer.  The Tigers win and become the first team to book their ticket to the second round of the Nomad Cup playoffs.