In the last minute of play, cover Hammond. That is the lesson teams should adopt when playing the Firth Rangers in Oldtimer hockey.
In the last two games the Rangers have played, Al Hammond has made some last-minute alterations to the score, giving his team a tie and a win.
“I’ve had a couple good strokes of luck,” said Hammond. “It’s nice passing from Brian (Boorse). He made them both happen. He’s a good hockey player.
“He got the pass out and I happened to be open - probably the first time tonight, I think.”
With under a minute to play against the Performance Centre Turbos on Wednesday, Hammond took a pass from Boorse from behind the net and evened the score 3-3 with 48 seconds left on the clock. The game ended in a tie.
Hammond also scored his team’s game-winner Sunday against Edgewater, finding the back of the net with just two seconds left in the game. The Rangers won 3-2.
What makes the tie remarkable was the 3-0 deficit the Rangers took to the locker room during the intermission. However, the Rangers narrowed the gap with goals from Bob Allison and Boorse, the only player in the game to have a multi-point game.
Having drastically out shot the Turbos in the first period - despite the resulting score by the end of the period - the Rangers stuck with the same gameplan in the second.
“We were skating really hard the first period but with no rewards,” said Hammond.
“We finally managed to get one by him and we just kept doing what we were doing the whole game.
“Nothing really changed, we just finally got some breaks.”
Scoring for the Turbos were Ross Phillips, Dave Ecker and Jason Cunning.
The Rangers nearly had a bigger hill to climb, with Turbo Ron Sumanik almost scoring just 30 seconds into the game. Despite Sumanik’s on-ice celebration, the refs did not agree that his shot was a goal.
“I can tell you definitively - I was six-feet away - it did not go in,” said Cunning. “I can say that with absolute authority.”
“I think Ron (Sumanik) was trying to sell that one,” said Hammond.
The following game, between the Klondyke Dental Molars and the AON Flames also ended in a tie, with a score of 2-2.
Turning up the heat for the Flames were Molars John Skilnyk and Rob MacDonald, each with a goal. Taking a bite out of the Molars for the Flames were Steve Arrell and Bill Watson, both with unassisted goals.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com