Thursday, February 24, 2011

GX Regular Season Ends in a Shootout

(Gagnon's 40 saves leads Wolverines over Stampeders in a shootout)

For a second straight night on GX94, a game that meant nothing in the standings ended up being entertaining, and required a shootout to declare a winner, as the Wayway Wolverines went into Swan Valley, and won 4-3 (SO).

The Stamps were in control for much of the game, leading 1-0 and 2-1. But the Wolverines' powerplay tied it twice, and Brett Pinkerton gave Wayway their first lead with about 3:30 to play in regulation.

Just when it looked like it was game over, Swan Valley's Ryan Marshall scored his 2nd of the night, RIGHT AT the buzzer to force overtime.

I looked back at the clock and saw 1.1 seconds left and the puck was in the corner. It squirted loose to Marshall at the back door, and he stuffed it home.

Pinkerton, Ryan Duhaime and Ashley Howie scored for Wayway, while Paul Vandevelde had two assists, and goaltender Brett Gagnon (picutred) stopped 40/43 shots in the win.

Only 3 Stampeders had points on their 3 goals, and they each had 3. Marshall had 2g-1a and a shootout goal. Shelby Gray had 1g-2a, and also a shootout goal, while Defenseman Brent Wilson had 3 assists.

The Stamps are in Wayway on Friday to finish the regular season for both teams.

That was our final broadcast of the regular season. Next up... SJHL Survivor Series... Melville at Estevan tomorrow (FRI) night for Game 1 of the Best-of-Five.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Craig. You see both sj and Mj games. can you briefly comment on the leagues? Are they different or much the same? Overall is one league stronger than the other?

Craig Stein said...

They're never on the same ice at the same time, so really it's hard to say.

The consensus among most guys I ask, and I agree, is that the top teams in each league are about the same, while the SJ might be deeper from top to bottom. In other words, there always seems to be a couple bottom-feeders in the MJ (and usually in the Addison).

Every season's different though. And if there used to be a gap between the two leagues, I think it's smaller all the time, if at all.

I enjoy both!