Um. I don't even know where to start with writing about last nights game.... chaotic fans, blood on the ice, wacky bounces, poor reffing, or being sandwiched between loyal Thundercat and Dynamiter fans. This game had it all! It was intense and entertaining.... or was that just because of the crowd in front and behind me?
I'll go period by period (this may be lengthy so I am going to use subheadings and such for those who want to speed read):
First Period
Blood on the Ice
Early in the first period a shot was deflected into Becker's face. He immediately went down, and it was obvious to the fans that Becker was bleeding. But despite the referee LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM down on the ice, he let play continue, until Brouwer left his net to assist him. Becker got guided off the ice, after he left a pool of blood on the ice. The ref and a lines(wo)man then skated around the puddle peering into it. I can only imagine that they were looking for a tooth. Finally they brought out a scrapper and cleaned up the ice.
It's a bird? It's a plane? It's a flying stick!
I missed seeing the details of the Cats first goal, because a stick was not just slashed, but chopped, out of a defending nitro's hand and went floating up as high as the World Champions banner (that's right, we have one of those in the rafters). So while I was watching this stick, the Cats put the puck passed Brouwer, who ironically, stick was stuck in the netting of the net.
Chanting
As I mentioned at the start, I was wedged, along with my daughters friends family, in between Nitro's and Cats faithful. Between the challenging chants of "White!" "Blue!" and air horns and bells. The four kids, under the age of six, spent some time with their hands over their ears because of how loud it was getting. Which only added to the intensity of the atmosphere. I must credit these Cats fans, even though they were intense, they were respectful, and were open to friendly banter (and reminders of the little ears).
That Referee
While I am writing about this in the first period slot, and the referee really did annoy Kimberley fans, he did begin to irritate the Creston fans in front of me later in the game. While the calls, well some of them, were legit, it was one sided. We would get tripped, no call, we trip someone, called. We get roughed, no call, we rough up a Cats player, we are called. And so on. You get the picture. This led to me tweeting this:
Which led to this response:
Second Period
Nitro's Score!
Garcia got the Nitro's on the score sheet with a lucky bounce. It was a power play goal that Garcia shot that deflected off the glass and then ricochet off the goalie and in. Sibbald then beautifully fed Perpelitz the puck from behind the net and Perpelitz got it past a sprawling Michalovsky. Perpelitz also had a chance earlier but rang the puck off the post. This left the Cats with a 3-2 lead going into the third.
Third Period
Zamboni
The Zamboni driver must have felt the pressure of setting up the third period of a tight and intense game. The third period was delayed in starting because of the puddles in the corner of the arena. The officials tried to spread the slush around, but they had to call back the Zamboni to scrap the ice and pickup the slush. In a friendly banter, a Nitro's fan yelled to the Creston faithful "It's your hot air that is thawing the ice!"
Fan Ruckus
At about the 11 minute mark, play was stopped because of something going on in the crowd. Nitro's fans say a Cats fan started throwing beer at them, and then onto the ice; Cats fans report that a Nitro's fan started throwing beer at them, and then onto the ice. So I am not really sure what happened. Just that play was stopped, security was involved, doors were slamming, and RCMP were on the scene.
You remember that Creston faithful in front of me? Well, they have a crush on Buckley or something, cause besides his name they could only say Brouwer. Any way, they got to Buckley, and during a stoppage of play, Buckley flicked the puck up at them (hitting the glass).
Penalties
Garcia was called for a head shot (again), and it didn't even look like a head shot. Buckley received a game misconduct for a hit, which Collins sold. Garcia could potentially be suspended (hasn't appeared on the KIJHL site yet),
but Buckley has been. Nice dive Collins, and poor call official.
Cheap Shots
The ref, again missing something that happened to a Nitro's player, didn't see Perpelitz get nailed to the head by Sidwell. He was down on the ice, hurt. No call was ever made. And that was a call that needed to happen. It was ugly, and targeted a key player for the Nitro's.
The ThunderCats even ran Brouwer a couple of times, and there was no goalie interference call! It was ridiculous!
Next Game
The teams play tonight. The Nitro's need to play their game and not be so hard on themselves. They were up 3-1 and now have a third chance (third times a charm) to finish off the Cats.
I do wonder if the Nitro's will change their goalie, and return to Mousseau for this clutch game, even though in my mind, Brouwer has played awesome! I hope WHL scouts were watching him.
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