Jan 25, 2015 | maiken | 319 views
Game One: Dogs Over the Rebels
First game of a new series in Chesley, the IceDogs started slow but picked it the pace by the second. It was a great game for number 4 and our great goalie, and the Dogs kept ahead of the Rebels for 5 to 4 final. Go Dogs!
The Rebels came to town and went right to work. Their first shot at 9:38 was handled by Tyson and twenty seconds later, with an excellent pass up from Corson, Mitch netted his first of the game. And it looked like it would be immediately followed by another from a sweet play between Will and Brett, but their goalie was not having it! The Soup immediately retaliated with a little pass play. 1 to 1. Rebels almost went ahead at 4:52, but Tyson stopped a shot that the fans were wondering how he ever even saw it! For a Dog, he does have catlike reflexes, but it wasn't enough to stop the Rebels from getting their second of the game at 1:33. 1 to 2. The clock would run down on this score.
Only 40 seconds into the next period, Spencer set up Mitch to tie the score at two. The Soup returned to their strong passing game and made it to 3. But at 11:46, Spencer passed over to his center, Mitch, whose reach stretched an extra six inches and scored his hattrick. 3 to 3. Our defence was working hard all game and Brad had a great stop using his leg and Clayton was shipping the puck deep into their end every chance he got. Mitch would get his fourth of the game with a run up the ice, finishing with a clever backhand to put the Dogs ahead by one. At 5:50, Tyson slapped his pads down and the resulting chaos ended in the Soup getting their first penalty....a four minute penalty for butt ending, which I missed. At first, the IceDogs were not using their long powerplay to their best advantage, and the Rebels are solid defenders. But a smart play from Dan to Chase at 3:56, made it five for us. The Rebels had a long time until they were back to full strength, and they would get another point at 1:46. The period would end with a score of 5 to 4.
The third period had fans chewing on their nails! In the first minute, Tyson flatten the pad to the ice and held off several Soup forwards. Our forwards were keeping close contact with their players and Braydon had a nice showdown with one. IceDogs get their one and only penalty of the game for an unintentional Gordie Howe at 9:40, most likely the result of a bit of height difference between their forward and our defence. The Rebels needed a minute to get their very own penalty, but neither team was able to increase the score. The final five minutes were a goalie clinic for Tyson who robbed the Soup with glove saves over and over. The final minute of the game, the Rebels pulled their goalie for a one man advantage and tried to even that score. Their coach called a timeout with less than ten seconds left for a new tactic, but in the final couple of seconds, Tyson froze the puck against his netting to shut down that last hope. The final: 5 for us and 4 for them. This is going to be one great matchup!