Eurekas Surprise Norsemen

Game 1 of the series between the Norsemen and Eurekas was a comeback win for the Norsemen who completed their mission in the shootout.  Game 2 was looking to be a bit different in ways, one of which being the absence of Eurekas leading scorer Dylan Warren, another being their goaltender Ashton Speight missing the match.

 

 The first chance of the game on Tuesday night went to Eurekas forward George Murray, but he launched his shot well over the net.  The play went up ice off the next draw and Ray Carrigan made a nice pass across to Rob Manteuffel who went ass over tea kettle as he one timed his shot wide of the net.

 

A few hard shots right at Phil Sprague by the Eurekas were easy saves, so Zack Harrison would have put the Norsemen up when he went to the net from behind the goal line, were it not for a good save from Evan Dutrizac in the Eurekas goal.  Landon Miron had a good chance cutting across the middle just shortly thereafter but his shot wasn’t all he wanted it to be and it was easily swallowed.  Off the draw however, Miron won the puck to Nick Marshall on the wall and he returned the puck to Landon.  His shot went through the netminder and into the back of the net, 1-0 Norsemen at 12:13.

 

Jake Rankin fed a breakout pass to Keifer Gladwin that went right to Robin Gareau instead.  Robin made a mess of it and Keifer got the bobbled puck anyway, going in on the breakaway.  He fired low and beat Sprague to level the score just 30 seconds after the Norsemen took the lead.

 

The Norsemen then were all over the Eurekas in their zone.  James Harrison heeled a one timer wide and the puck went to Gareau at the point.  He wound up and delivered when a u7 player would call a clapper and it slid to Nick Marshall who got it and turned, firing a shot into the goalie’s breadbasket.

 

Ray Carrigan got the puck in the slot with the goalie out of position and his wrister was denied as Dutrizac came across and made a big stretching save, starfishing on the rebound where the Eurekas were lucky to get the quick whistle.

 

Ryan DeWolfe worked his ass off in the Norsemen zone to win a puck in the corner, a puck which he fed in front to Glen MacDougall.  Glen took the shot as Blake Isenor came sliding at him to block the shot.  The puck went under Isenor, then off the bottom of the pad of Sprague as he went down, and then into the net, 2-1 Eurekas.

 

Carter Nickerson took a shot on the Norsemen goal which Sprague couldn’t contain and then Nickerson grabbed the rebound and tucked it in.  The ref called it off due to goalie interference as another Eurekas player was in the crease, preventing Sprague from making the save.

 

Less than a minute later, Jake Rankin rushed up the ice, took a shot on goal and then followed up his own rebound, sending it five hole to make it 3-1 Eurekas with just over 8 minutes left in the first.  The Norsemen were looking defeated.  

 

Brian Collins tossed a weak little pass in on the Norsemen goalie and Sprague made a risky play shooting it away just an instant before Kyle Publicover could knock it off his stick.

 

Ryan DeWolfe took down Landon as he got through some other Eurekas and neared the goal, thus putting the Norsemen on the power play.  Jake Rankin deflected a Robin Gareau shot, sending the puck to Landon with the goalie out of position.  He had patience and went around the outstretched goalie and sliding Rankin to the other side and fired.  Josh Beitel made the save in the crease to help his goaltender and the puck dropped right to the glove of Dutrizac where he was able to get the whistle.

 

The Eurekas were getting their sticks and bodies in front of everything coming near their net as they defended their lead, and their goaltender stopped everything the rest of the period.

 

30 seconds into the second, Carter Nickerson extended the lead with a snipe off the post and in on the breakaway.  The Norsemen were in a hole and struggling to find a way out.  Rob Manteuffel came down the left wing and spotted the goalie down early.  He took a backhander that went off the back of the Eurekas goaltender’s shoulder and out the other side, but still, nothing going in for the Norsemen since the 1-0 lead.  

 

On a delayed Eurekas penalty, Brendan Hawboldt and Josh Beitel both reached for a puck, and it deflected up into Hawboldt’s face.  He’d have to leave the game for a bit to deal with the blood, but luckily his teeth seemed to be free from damage.  Unfortunately for Brendan, his team took just as much damage as they played most of the rest of the game in the Eurekas zone, but simply couldn’t find a way to put together a comeback, and they fell 4-1, forcing a deciding game 3.