With both teams registering shorthanded goals, Medicine Chest’s Adam Green thinks he’s figured out the strategy his team will take to their next game.
“I think it’s taking penalties - you take a penalty and it’s a boost of power,” said Green. “So there’ll be more penalties next game. It seems to be the secret.”
As brilliant a strategy as that may be, the shorthanded goals were not enough to lift either team into the winner’s circle as Medicine Chest tied the Performance Centre Turbos 2-2 in Oldtimer hockey Wednesday at Takhini Arena.
So far in the season it’s been other teams struggling as the Turbos (4-0-1) currently sit at the top of the standings as the only undefeated team.
However, that honour looked to be falling to the wayside as Medicine Chest (1-3-1) jumped to a 2-0 by midway through the first with two goals from Green, the second of which was not only shorthanded but unassisted, intercepting a pass and scoring on the breakaway. Green also had a two-goal night in his team’s last game, a 5-2 win over the Firth Rangers on October 8.
Showing his own ability to beat the odds, Turbos centre Ross Phillips moved his team within one with his own shorthanded, unassisted goal beating Medicine Chest goalie Glen Traverse to the puck in open ice and tossing in a backhand shot.
“Glen Traverse gave me a bit of a gift; he decided to skate out to centre ice for the puck,” said Phillips. “He was my goalie last year so I feel a bit sorry for him.”
The Turbos tied the game early in the second on a goal by a bloody Dave Ecker, who earlier in the game took a skate blade to the chin, from an unknown Medicine Chest player, but toughed it out and played on.
“I scratched myself trying to pick my team up a little bit,” said Ecker. “We’re blaming Daniel Janke for that, he’s the new Darcy Tucker.”
Picking up assists on the tying goal, redirected in by Ecker, were Sean McAskie and Kelly Collins.
“All I had to do is redirect that and, trust me, I didn’t know where it was going,” said Ecker. “(Traverse) hates it when I score on him.”
“We started back-checking a bit and watching their forwards, who had a couple breakaways,” said Phillips. “They had quite a good defence. Usually we pressure the defence more and they cough it up, but they didn’t cough it up a lot. I don’t think they had a bad giveaway.”
In the following game Yukon Inn cruised to a 3-1 win over the AON Flames. Scoring for Yukon Inn were Dennis Connelly with two and Blaine Demchuk with a goal and an assist. Laurie Malo scored for the Flames.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com