Tigers look to maul the Osprey

Round 2 for the top seeded Osprey and the Tigers, the only lower seeded team to win their first round, began on Tuesday night.  The Osprey had a mad dash to find a goaltender in the hours leading up to the game, and settled upon Chris McKenna to fill in for Matt Baird.

 

McKenna was tested early.  Stopping Brandon Crowell as he backhanded a shot on goal from the side of the net, McKenna was then forced to make a big save in Kurt Thibault who was the recipient of a Crowell pass to the open side of the net.  The Tigers then forced the Osprey into being turnover machines.  On one such turnover, Norm Gallant took a point shot that Allan Beaton got a stick on, completely changing the trajectory of the shots, but McKenna was there.

 

If you have been paying any attention this season, you have noticed that the Osprey have the knack for turning things around in an instant.  Matt Simpson found that instant and sent Josh Stevens off on a breakaway, just him and Josh McCarther, Josh vs Josh.  Josh won the battle, nice try Josh.  The shot came in low and Stevens was denied by McCarther.  Just two and a half minutes in, and we had good chances at both ends.  The Tigers cleared the zone and changed, but the clearance wasn’t far and Stevens spotted Matt Simpson on the far boards.  Matt took a couple steps before the Tigers were starting to close in on him.  With a big wind up, he released a clapper, but McCarther stopped him easily.

 

On the next draw, Mike Bourgeois took a hard shot from the point, taking a chunk off of Nick Morris whose block was cheered by his Tigers teammates.  Josh Martel first had a nice tip on goal off a Mya Ferguson shot, and then he got the puck off a bounce on a scramble in front and McCarther had to kick out his left pad quickly to make the save.

 

A giveaway at the other end of the ice and Brandon Crowell tipped Kurt Thibault’s shot on goal and McKenna needed to be the one to make a kick save.

 

Neither team seemed to b e any momentum as play circled around the neutral zone and with brief forays into the zones.  Rohan Whitesock made a break for the Tigers zone with Simpson going to the net.  He made the pass and Simpson, with a whole open net to redirect the puck into, decided that the netting he liked more was above the glass, and we remained scoreless.

 

Brandon Crowell, always lurking around the net, made a deft little deflection on a Shane Whitman shot and the puck went just past the post.  Then Dan Keays looked like he might get loose going up the left wing, but Bourgeois made a beauty sliding play to knock the shot away as it was released.

 

The Osprey tried clearing their zone, but Crowell knocked the puck out of the air and kept it in.  He threw a shot wide of th3 goal which Thibault moved the Norman Sure-Shot Gallant.  He put a wrister on goal with Shane Whitman looking for and finding a redirection.  McKenna made the save but Whitman was there to get his own rebound and tuck it around the goaltender.  The Tigers had a 1-0 lead with 2 minutes left in the first. 

 

Shots on goal continued to be the name of the game for the Osprey, and saving them, the game of McCarther.  The Tigers took the one goal lead into the second.

 

For the first few minutes, the play was mostly in the Osprey end, and then it turned and Keaton Hicks had a glorious chance to tie the game as he got the puck in the high slot.  He hesitated momentarily as Glenn Boyce moved into “screen my goalie” position, and Keaton fired.  His shot rang hard off the post and stayed out.  His next shot was deflected and Thibault and Crowell broke out.  With Thibault carrying the puck, Crowell tried to drive between defensive pairing Bourgeois and Ferguson.  Bourgeois came in and played the role of Scott Neidermeyer and Mya got to be Scott Stevens as she dropped Crowell and then stood over him like, probably calling him a little bitch.

 

Matt Simpson looked determined to throw the Osprey on his back and he made a pass to Stevens in front, Josh, not Scott, and Josh’s shot was redirected wide by Dan Keays as McCarther was sliding into position.  The Osprey seemed to be getting closer.

 

The craziest scramble of the season happened a minute later as McCarther tried to find the loose puck after Matt Pare fanned on a shot in front and he, Scott Stewart, and Josh Martell all banged away.  Eventually all 5 Tigers players on the ice came in to help their goaltender and the whistle went.

 

Pare, often in the right place, swung at a Scott Stewart pass and it went five hole on McCarther who looked behind himself.  No-one seemed to see the puck but Glenn Boyce went to protect the goal line, Matt Pare went to the left of McCarther and then the puck slowly slid out to the goaltender’s right and the Tigers were able to clear it.

 

Nick Collins took a high sticking penalty as his stick scraped along Shane Whitman’s cage when turning to get a puck, and the Tigers saw the chance to extend their lead with under 10 minutes remaining.

 

Dan Keays went for the backhand wraparound and just couldn’t hook it in while Mike Bourgeois tied up the available pass recipient Eric Blanchard in the crease.  The Osprey killed the penalty and then had their best pressure of the game, playing nearly 3 minutes straight in the Tigers zone, but they still couldn’t beat McCarther, with Keaton Hicks coming closest with his own near goal on a backhand wraparound attempt.

 

Then a Kurt Thibault and Brandon Crowell 2 on 1 happened.  Kurt made the pass across the Brandon and he got the puck while moving across the goaltender’s mouth, tucking the puck around McKenna to make it 2-0 with 4 minutes to go.  The Tigers bench roared as they felt a little relief with a two goal lead.  But no lead is safe.

 

Goalie pulled, the Osprey threw out their most offensive players and turned it up a notch.  The Tigers also turned it up and made sure to clear the puck whenever they got it.  In the last 30 seconds, Josh Stevens took a shot from the ringette line.  Glenn Boyce got the shaft of his stick on it and the puck deflected up and McCarther was just able to get his shoulder on it, but the puck kept moving forward to the goal line.  He turned and dove with his glove.  Scott Stewart was reaching and with the whole open net there for him, he was stunned as Dan Keays knocked it away just 6 inches from the goal line to preserve the shutout.  

 

The Tigers now rake a 1-0 series lead into their game tonight and can send the favourites home early with a win.