Tacoma Hounds

Recap

With a combined 62 scores and 65 saves in 45 minutes of play, the Lumberjacks and Nutmegger’s drawn match under this week’s Wednesday Night Lights suffered no shortage of scintillating scenes.

Absorbing a near-continuous series of attacks in the opening minute and a half without conceding a goal, the Lumberjacks fought their way out to an early 6-2 lead. Lumberjacks keeper Kevin strung together 19 saves in the first 15 minutes – a new single period best. The Nutmegger’s kept pressing until attacker Bee put away a goal with 1 minute remaining in the 1st to pull things level at 11 before Kevin and Clint each squeezed one in before the buzzer.

Beginning 13-11 with the Lumberjacks out front, the second period never saw either team build a lead above 3 scores. Opposing attackers Clint and John canceled each other out at 7 goals apiece through the evening’s second 15 minutes, leaving the period to be settled elsewhere. The Lumberjacks recorded 8 defensive actions to the Nutmeggers’ 4 as Kris (credited for 14 this season and tied for first) and Nash (credited with 12 this season) took hold of league-leading spots on the stat board. Combined with Kevin’s save record and Clint leading scoring league-wide, the Lumberjacks are certainly a defense-heavy team with a serious edge. Not to be outdone, Laura put up one of the league’s biggest hits so far and Chris added 4 more. Unfortunately for the Nutmeggers, the latter also picked up a penalty 1:20 before the klaxon. Lumberjacks 21 – Nutmeggers 23 after 2.

The Nutmeggers successfully killed off the last 40 seconds of the penalty to start the 3rd. With 11 minutes remaining, the Nutmeggers’ Morgan was called for a penalty against the far wall. The blue ballers’ toothy penalty kill snatched 2 points despite the Lumberjacks’ player-advantage – reaching 3 shorthanded goals this season. However, the Lumberjacks managed to close the gap further. Successive series of goalmouth scraps saw Morgan, Chris, Clint, and Kris push the match to the wire with scores while Bee, Laura, Mikki, and Kurt continually hunted for their own late-game heroics. The Lumberjacks managed to keep the Nutmeggers scoreless through the last 2 minutes,  netting 3 sliotars in the same time. A dying-seconds shot attempt was saved and sent right back into the Nutmeggers’ net by Kevin to snag the tying goal at the death.

Make sure you catch next week’s match as the already-clinching Panthers play host to a Lumberjacks squad still looking to secure their place the Tacoma Hound’s Indoor League Final!