Friday, December 1, 2000

 

Thunder Lose Close One 4-3 in OT

December 1, 2000LIBERTY LAKE, WA…No matter how smooth a nine-hour bus ride goes, it’s still tough to jump off and be ready to play hockey. The Eugene Thunder came out sluggish and a bit disorganized in the first 20 minutes of this hockey game. Liberty Lake’s veteran lineup took advantage early. Their lethal powerplay converted at 15:53 of the first period. This did nothing to settle the Thunder down. Goaltender Cory Johnson was able to hold off the Lumberjacks while his team scrambled to find their game legs. But at 2:20 of the first period, Liberty Lake’s John Skoglie fired a shot from the slot that eluded Johnson short-side and gave the Lumberjacks a two-goal lead.When the second period started, it was obvious that the Thunder had unpacked their game and were ready to get down to business. Liberty Lake began getting into penalty trouble, allowing the Thunder some room to skate and work the puck around. At 13:27 during some 4-on-4 play, Nolan Baker took a pass from Mark Demmer. In an exciting, acrobatic play, Nolan worked hard through the neutral zone to get the puck into the Liberty Lake end of the ice where he dished it off to Aaron Roberge. Aaron redirected the puck into the net for the Thunder’s first goal of the night.Then, at 5:21 of the second, Roberge and Nolan Baker combined again for the Thunder’s second tally. The play was started off by Chance Lau, Baker got the puck on the net and Roberge was there on the door step to swat in the rebound. This goal tied the game 2-2. As the period drew to a close, Mark Demmer was whistled for roughing and picked up a 10 minute misconduct to go along with it. Andreas Collander also got the gate for roughing, but he took Liberty Lake’s Roger Ellsworth with him. So as the third period began, the Thunder were on the penalty kill and Demmer’s absence for 12 minutes was not easy to bear. At the 8:00 mark, Josh Ankney continued his bid to be the Thunder’s main thug as he dropped the mitts with Liberty Lake forward R.B. Robbins. After this, the ref swallowed his whistle and tried to let the players decide the game. The action was fast-paced, ranging end to end. Both teams were pressing. As the play continued, it got more and more physical until unexpectedly, the ref found his whistle again and tagged Nolan Baker for charging at with 3:44 left in the period. The Thunder circled their wagons and held off the potent Liberty Lake powerplay. Jake Meisenheimer, Andreas Collander, Eric Graftaas and Sean MacDonald had a stellar anchor shift to finish killing the penalty. But once Nolan was free, the Thunder seemed unable to switch gears from the conservative penalty kill mode back to full strength and within 11 seconds, Liberty Lake’s captain Joe Richter fired the puck by Cory Johnson to give the Lumberjacks the lead with 1:33 remaining in the game.Coach Kelly Hubbard called a timeout and mapped an emergency battle plan. Cory Johnson was pulled in favor of an extra attacker and amazingly at 1:11 the referee called a "make up" penalty against Liberty Lake. Defenseman Mike Ferancik got the gate for roughing, giving the Thunder a 6-on-4 opportunity. The boys went to work, moving the puck around the Lumberjacks’ zone, Mark Demmer was able to bury the puck with :54 remaining to tie the game at 3-3. His goal was assisted by defensemen Garrett Carter and Andreas Collander.

The overtime period was intense. Both teams were forcing plays. The Thunder kept the pressure on, putting 5 shots on Liberty Lake goaltender, Danny King. But pressure can lead to breakdowns and Lumberjacks’ forward Andre Niec got a breakaway. The Thunder tried to chase him down, but he made no mistake, firing the puck past Cory Johnson and giving his team the win, 4-3 in OT.

 

Player Statistics

Friday, December 1, 2000 vs. Liberty Lake Lumberjacks

No.	Name	G	A	Pts.	PIMs	PP	SH	GWG	FG
1	Martin Stehl
2	Andreas Collander	0	1	1	4
4	Cassidy Esty
7	Max Manders
8	Sean MacDonald				2
9	Freddy Martinez
10	Eric Graftaas
11	Chance Lau	0	1	1	2
12	Andrew Fields
14	Aaron Roberge	2	0	2					1
15	Lee Jurasevich
16	Nolan Baker	0	2	2	2
17	Mark Demmer	1	1	2	2 (10)	1
20	Josh Ankney				5
21	Garrett Carter	0	1	1
22	Phil Bingman
23	Jake Meisenheimer
24	Tommy Baker				2
27	Alan Rasmussen
30	Cory Johnson

 

 

No.	Name	Mins	W	L	GAA	Svs	Sv%	SO
1	Martin Stehl
30	Cory Johnson	61:50	0	1	4.00	28	.875