Regular Season Game #5

The puck drops on Hockey Night in France.

It was a battle for third place in the division this past Saturday as the Peaux Rouge from Evry came hunting the Castors of Asnieres. Luckily these beavers bite back. It was a physical match between two good teams.

We took the lead in the first period when Andronik Bourret walked into the slot and sent a low shot towards the net. The goalie for Evry probably should have stopped it, but the puck slid past his legs and into the net. The first period had some good flow, but the real action started in the second and third periods. After one, Asnieres 1, Evry 0.

In the second, Evry started to take some penalties and we capitalized on the powerplay (highlight is in the video below). J.C. Fornero moved the puck up the wall to me at the point. As I started to move towards the middle of the ice, two Evry players converged. A neat little pass to my partner on the play, Guillaume Pfeiffer, and he was wide open for the shot. The goalie made a good save, but Mika Snellman was there for the rebound. Evry did manage a goal after that when we has two men in the penalty box so the second period ended with Asnieres 2, Evry 1.

The third period was intense as both teams wanted the win. Evry tied the game up early in the third on a neat little 2-on-1 when we had a defenseman pinch with no back-up. Each team tried hard to press for what would surely be the game winning goal. With only three minutes to play, Arthur Cuzin, one of the young rookies on the team, grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and forced his way into the offensive zone. Protecting the puck on his backhand, he drove to the net where he roofed it top-shelf as he was falling over. Highlight reel material. Oliver Ducam added an empty netter with thirty seconds left in the game to seal the deal.

It was an exciting win as we had our best crowd of the season. It was noisy and the fans were involved in the game. I must also mention that the Evry goalie played exceptionally well as we easily out chanced them and he really kept them in the game. Our goalie, Tommi Kuru, however was also clutch and made a few big saves of his own. My #13 jerseys with nameplates have finally arrived as well.