Waugh-nderful Save Secures Tie for T-Birds

South Island Thunderbirds, February 01, 2009

If you close your eyes and imagine how the play by play for the South Island Thunderbirds might have sounded on the radio as their game wound down on Sunday morning, it should probably be like this:

Shorthouse:  Just two minutes to go now with the score 4 - 4, and North Island starts out of their own end.  Here’s a long pass up the middle to Teagan Waugh, who shakes free and now is in all alone on Glover!  Waugh dekes, goes right and OH WHAT AN INCREDIBLE GLOVE SAVE BY BRANDON GLOVER!!!

Larscheid:  Boy oh boy Moose Jaw, you’re going to love this guy – just like Luongo stopping Crosby last season, that flash of leather as Brandon sprawled to get to the right post might be the save of the year right there.  FORGET OBAMA SHORTY, WE’VE GOT GLOVERMANIA HERE BABY.

“The Save” off North Island’s leading scorer, Teagan Waugh, was huge and it was followed 30 seconds later by another excellent catch of a North Island defenceman’s slap shot from the high slot.  Those two stops ensured that the game ended in a tie, which was a fitting end to a hard fought battle in these teams’ final matchup of the season.

For South Island, the tie gave them three of the possible four points from this weekend’s pair of games and extended their unbeaten streak to five games (3 – 0 – 2).  As for the Silvertips, while the team is now out of the playoff race, it still has an important role to play in determining who finishes in the sixth and final playoff spot in the BCMML with weekend pairings remaining against both the Vancouver Chiefs and Valley West Hawks.  As the ‘Tips showed this weekend, their impact will be felt in the season’s final month and the T-Birds will be cheering them every step of the way.

This was another game that followed the consistent theme that no lead is ever safe when these teams play each other.  Early on, the Thunderbirds controlled the play, outshooting the Silvertips by 14 – 3 in the first period.  The only goal of the period came at 3:06 off an excellent rush by T-Bird defenceman Kurtis Rumenovich who dangled around one defenceman on the left side, took the puck down to the bottom of the left face-off circle and then fed a backhand pass over to Josh Bloomenthal streaking to the other side of the net.  Silvertip goalie Kolding Larson tried to get across but Bloomenthal threw the puck up under the crossbar to give his team the early lead.

Things turned quickly in the Silvertips’ favor in the second period as they scored three goals in less than two minutes.  The first came at 2:24 when a T-Bird defenceman was stripped of the puck as he came out from behind his net.  The puck slid straight to Kyle Kramer in front and he walked around Glover before Brandon knew what hit him, putting the puck into the gaping net.  Then at 3:42, Jared Crema blasted a tremendous slap shot from just above the left face-off circle that beat Glover stick side.  The trio was complete at 4:17 when Gerry Fitzgerald went around a T-Bird defender to create a quick 2 on 1, then slid a nice pass to Jeff Datoff who one-timed it quickly past Glover.  At that point, the shots were still 15 – 7 in favour of South Island but the North had made a stunning turnaround and now had a two goal lead to protect.

The goals inspired the Silvertips who controlled most of the second period, helped along by three South Island penalties.  While the prospects for the T-Birds making a comeback were not then looking too good, you almost expected another momentum changing event, which did indeed come in the period’s final minute.

South Island defenceman Garrett Holt made a couple of nice moves bringing the puck out from behind his own net and then spotted Sam Rice heading across center along the right side.  Holt neatly banked a long pass that hit Rice perfectly as he roared past the Silvertip defenceman on his side of the ice.  Rice drove to the net and as he moved in on Larson through the right face-off circle, he ripped a low wrist shot that squeezed through the goalie and into the net with just 32 seconds remaining.  That was Rice’s third goal of the weekend and 11^th of the season and cut the lead in half as his squad headed to the dressing room.

The Thunderbirds’ spirit was clearly lifted as they started the third period and they struck again to tie the game at 3:22.  Rice was again involved, getting the puck to Ryan Matthews who carried the puck wide left around a North Island defenceman and then centred the puck to the top of the crease.  Wes Myron got there at the same time as the puck and managed to jam it through Larson to tie the game at 3 – 3.

North Island was unfazed by that comeback and took the lead again with a power play goal at 8:51.  Jack Kennelly and Fitzgerald won a battle for the puck in the right corner and Fitzgerald passed the puck from the end boards out in front to Brent Baltus who one-timed it hard and low past Glover to make the score 4 – 3.

As the final minutes ticked away, the Thunderbirds were not getting a lot of quality chances until North Island took an interference penalty with five minutes left.  On the power play, Chad Roorda took a pass from Ryan Matthews at the left point, skated along the line to find a shooting lane in the middle and then ripped a textbook low slapshot past the defender and just inside the right post to beat the well screened Larson.

Rather than play too conservatively, both teams pushed for the win in those final three minutes of action.  The best two chances came from North Island which gave Glover the spotlight and produced The Save.

South Island’s record now moves to 14 – 14 – 6 which gives them 34 points and extends their lead over the seventh place Valley West Hawks to five points with both teams having played 34 games.  Each has six games remaining in the regular season.  The results for the 8^th place Vancouver Chiefs were not available at press time but the closest they could be is six points back, though they have two games in hand.

Next week the Thunderbirds are back home for a pair of games against the 3^rd place Okanagan Rockets, who knocked off the Cariboo Cougars twice this weekend and now sport a record of 18 – 7 – 7.  In the first two games between the teams in Kelowna, the Rockets won the first game 5 – 2 and then the teams tied 3 – 3 in the rematch.  Next Saturday’s game is at 5:20 PM at the UVic’s Ian Stewart Complex (home of the Victoria Racquet Club).  On Sunday, the puck drops at 9:30 AM at Panorama Recreation Centre, where “Glovermania” first started more than a decade ago.