One Comeback Deserves Another as Ice and Birds Battle to Tie

South Island Thunderbirds, January 23, 2010

12 measly seconds.  When you are trying to protect a one goal lead, sometimes the clock just can’t move fast enough.

You would never know that Saturday night’s exciting contest at UVic’s Ian Stewart Complex between the South Island Thunderbirds and Kootenay Ice involved two teams that have already been eliminated from the BCMML playoff race.  From the first minute to the last, they just kept coming at each other and perhaps fittingly, Kootenay’s final goal, produced at the end of a wild last minute power play, produced a 4 – 4 tie.

The game had a bit of everything, with plenty of good skating, hard hits, nifty playmaking, big saves, a penalty shot, big momentum swings and then finally the last minute heroics.  The last goal came with just a dozen tantalizing ticks remaining on the game clock, the Kootenay net empty and the visitors applying tons of pressure in the South Island end with their 6 on 4 advantage.  It spoiled the home crowd’s celebration of what looked to be the T-Birds’ first regular season win since knocking off the then 1^st place Cariboo Cougars at the end of November.  Still, anyone watching had to applaud the effort by both teams.

Thunderbird Head Coach Rob Milliken told his troops after the game that they had nothing to hang their heads over.  With two more skaters having left the game in the first period with injuries, adding to the other pair already on the disabled list, he recognized that his squad had competed well to twice erase two goal deficits and then take the lead into the game’s final minutes.  “Overall, I thought we had the edge in play after that lapse in the first period.  Our guys are still learning what it means to put together a full 60 minute game.”

The scoring started in somewhat unusual fashion.  The game’s first shots on goal did not come until the quick pair of shots that gave South Island a 1 – 0 lead at 4:44.  Dane Gibson fed Mark Walton at the inside edge of the right face-off circle for a quick snap shot that Kootenay goaltender James Barr kicked right to Garett Kemmler who snuck down from the left point and one-timed the rebound into the gaping open side of the net for his 4th goal of the season.

Kootenay then scored on its first shot on goal at 6:09 when Diego Bartlett wheeled around the net and slipped the puck inside the left post on a wrap around.  Just over two minutes later, the Ice took a 2 – 1 lead, scoring again on just their second shot on goal as Jacob Boyczuk flipped a backhand from the slot past the blocker of South Island netminder Nic Renyard, who then was lifted for Ryan Waldhaus.

Kootenay amazingly connected a third time on its third shot on goal, which came on a very well executed 3 on 1 at 12:49 as Dallon Stoddart finished off a great feed from Jesse Knowler for a chip-in at the left edge of the crease.

The Birds seemed to be rattled by the three successive goals against and took a penalty just 40 seconds later.  But a key turning point in the game came on that subsequent penalty kill, which was not only successful, it produced a great shorthanded marker that was set up by Cody Allison and finished off nicely by Clay Carson.  Allison broke up a breakout pass at the Kootenay blue line and then picked up the loose puck and made a perfect feed to Carson who had the inside track on his check heading down the middle.  Carson took the puck and beat Barr through the five hole to give his club a huge lift and cut the lead to 3 – 2.

Unfortunately, Carson was hauled down after he shot the puck and crashed into the end boards, hurting his shoulder and sending him off for x-rays.   Defenceman Matthew Sheeran also suffered the same fate just a couple of minutes earlier on an awkward hit into the side boards and he too left the game for good at the same time as Carson.

The first period finished with the score unchanged and the Birds having outshot the Ice 11 – 6.  The Birds’ territorial advantage widened in the second period, outshooting the Ice again 8 – 5 in the process, though neither team was able to add to their scoring total.  The most significant event of that period came with just two seconds remaining when the Birds’ Justin Polischuk ran over Bartlett at center ice.  While Bartlett stayed down and eventually was escorted off the ice by the trainer, the officials conferred and gave Polischuk a major penalty for checking from behind, which finished Justin’s night and put the Ice on a five minute power play to start the third period.  It also left the T-Birds with just 13 skaters on their progressively shortened bench.

That set up the dramatics in the final 20 minutes and there were plenty, fuelled by several more penalty calls.  South Island’s penalty killers did a great job during the first 4:30 of the period, then drew a Kootenay penalty to end the power play.  On the ensuing South Island power play, Kyle Richter notched his 6th goal of the season, knocking in a rebound off a Kemmler point shot to tie the game at 3 – 3 and swing the momentum back to the home team.

Kootenay then took three more penalties, the second of which came when South Island rookie forward Sam McMullen blocked a point shot just inside his own blue line and then split the defenders to pick up the puck and head to the Kootenay net on a breakaway.  He was hooked as he went to shoot and was awarded a penalty shot with 8:07 remaining.  Clearly feeling the game in the balance, McMullen skated in on Barr and converted the opportunity with a deke and quick backhand that Barr got a piece of but could not prevent from rolling into the net.  It was McMullen's second goal this season and looked like it might stand up as the game winner.

On the T-Birds’ next power play, forward Connor Krupa made a terrific end to end rush, cutting to the middle and, with a nifty toe drag, slipping between the last two defenders but he was unable to beat Barr from in close to extend his team's lead.

South Island did a good job of keeping the puck out of harm’s way until the game’s final two minutes, when a hooking penalty was levied and put them shorthanded again.  Kootenay applied enormous pressure on the power play, assisted by a sixth skater when Barr headed to the bench with 1:35 remaining.  Waldhaus repelled five straight shots, deflecting the fifth out of play with just 20 seconds remaining.

On the subsequent face-off, the puck was drawn straight back but out of the South Island zone but any relief for the Birds was short-lived.  Bartlett (who recovered quickly between periods and never missed a shift) brought the puck right back into the Birds’ zone and from just inside the left face-off circle, fired a wrist shot that was deflected by Kemmler.  The puck bounced toward Waldhaus, who kicked it out, but amidst a mass of Kootenay players driving to the net, Stoddart got to the puck first and banged it into the right corner of the net for the tying marker.

There is simply no quit in either of these teams so you would be unwise to make like a Los Angeles Dodger fan and head for the parking lot before the final buzzer sounds.

Bird Droppings:  Final shots on goal were 6-5-14=25 for Kootenay and 11-8-12=31 for South Island… The scoring summary for South Island includes:  Kemmler (1G, 1A), Walton (1A), Gibson (1A), Carson (1G), Allison (1A), Richter (1G), Holt (1A) and McMullen (1G).  For Kootenay, the scorers were:  Bartlett (1G, 1A), Boyczuk (1G), Stoddart (2G, 1A), Knowler (1A) and Petrick (1A)… South Island was assessed 5 minor penalties, 1 major and a game misconduct for 25 minutes.  Kootenay received 6 minor penalties for 12 minutes, plus the penalty shot… The T-Birds were 1 for 6 on the power play and 5 for 6 on the penalty kill… Adding to the T-Birds lengthy list of injuries this season, Carson and Sheeran are both doubtful for Sunday’s game.  Defenceman Alex Kersch (shoulder) and forward Taylor Hache (groin) are also still both out of action.  Sadly for Hache, it looks as though his season was ended in the first game of the season…  Saanich Bantam defenceman Nolan de Jong, who played with South Island as an affiliate last weekend in Kelowna and suffered an injured knee on a bad hit into the boards in Saturday’s Valley West game, is likely out for the rest of the season as well.