NOTE - Tuck is all over the Nordiques in the first shift. Tuck has legs and are forechecking aggressively.
TCK - 1-0 - Turnover by Kelly "Captain Turnover" Park, which will end up being a common occurance in this game, as he gets a pass picked off by Harrington at the blueline, Harrington beats Turner with a snapper glove side.
NDQ - 1-1 - Jordy "McJets" McGee picks up a loose puck in the neutral zone and during a bad change by Tuck. In all alone with time, fakes to his backhand and burns Mike Devine with a quick move to his forehand.
TCK - 2-1 - Another Turnover by "Captain Turnover" Park who tried flipping the puck out of his zone, only to be caught by the defenseman and fed to Brandon "Top Deck" Harrington. Harrington looks for a pass and unleashes hell on net with a quick snapper from the near boards, over Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner's shoulder, off the inside crossbar and out just as fast. Referee Marc "The Narc" Gattie recalls: "If I hadn't been in down low in the corner, I would never have seen it go in. I was in the right spot at the right time for once in my life."
NOTE - Tuck continues their dominance, all over the Nords like a good lubricant in a Swedish Massage House.
TCK - 3-1 - Faceoff to the right of Devine in Tuck's end. Harrington wins it forward, walks right past the centerman and burns Park, yet again another mistake, inside the circle. Harrington is breaking down the right side with full speed on the Nord's Shawn "McLovin" McDermott. Too much speed...and McDermott blows a tire just inside his blue line, some would call it a triple-clutz, others might say he just fell in fear of Harrington. Anyways, McDermott's toe-pick let Harrington walk in all alone on Turner, threw a head fake, sending Turner to the ice and threw the puck off Turner's pad and into the net for a 3-1 lead. Park & McDermott are now -3 on the night...brutal.
NDQ - 3-2 - McGee picks off a shitty Tuck pass along the near boards, center ice. Splits the defense and throws yet another disgusting move on Devine to cut the Nords deficit to 1.
NOTE - Tuck's Eric "The Rat" Rautiola is getting under the skin of all the Nords with his stickwork and overly physical play. The Nords return the favor on him and he retorts with "You're all a bunch of Hill Billies." Priceless.
NOTE - With Roger "The Dirty Dentist Drill" Phillips in the box for high sticking at 10:30...
TCK - 4-2 - Power play goal, Jeffrey "The Wasp" Wannop fires a pointshot through a screen, hits Turner, goes up and over him and trickles in the net...Park & McDermott were also out there for this one, it was a Powerplay goal, but man they suck.
NOTE - With John Curran in the box for Body Checking at 5:07...
NDQ - 4-3 - A Ryan "The Govenator" McGovern plays The Price is Right's Plinko with a pointshot that hit off 3 players and then I'm pretty sure "Fierce" Pierce Mayhew kicked in. Regardless, it was a goal and the Nords were back in this one.
END OF THE SECOND: Tuck 4, Nordiques 3. Turner(NDQ) 13 Saves, Devine(TCK) 9 Saves
At the end of the second period Tuck seemed to be slowing down a bit, allowing the Nords to jump back in this game. The Nords carried that momentum into the 3rd period.
NDQ - 4-4 - McGee takes a breakout pass at his own blue line, races down the near boards and with a team mate crashing the net, cuts across the crease as his team mate gets hauled down, taking out their goaltender Devine. From no angle, McGee slides the puck along the goalline into the back of the net. Tie game.
NOTE - Good back and forth action halfway through the third. Rautiola is still driving the Nords mad.
NOTE - Rautiola draws a Body Checking penalty on Greg "Tha Butchah of Hanover" Marsh and the Nords collapse is underway. 76 seconds later, Harrington is flying down the far side and a diving Jordy McGee gets puck, but takes out Harrington in the process for a 2-man advantage for Tuck.
NOTE - The Nords kill off the first power play, but still have 76 seconds to kill on the second.
TCK - 5-4 - "We killed off the remaining 5-on-3, when we got the 4th guy back, Harrington tried to center a pass and I double-tipped it straight to the guy with a Blank Jersey on the far post. Couple of bad bounces that led to a PP goal, but the hockey gods were probably making up for Pierce's(Mayhew) pinball goal that went off 10 people" recalled Ryan "The Govenator" McGovern.
TCK - 6-4 - Park & McDermott fuck it up once again...this time "8(Rautiola) scored on a nice bat out of the air on a deflected shot from 17 after all 5 Nords were caught below/near the goal line -- somehow McD ended up out at the point for an initial block on 17, who then stepped around him, found the puck, and threw it at the net. Couple of deflections and a nice whack by 8 and it's 6-4" said McG through email the next day.
RECAP: The Nordiques were out-gunned and out-hustled by Tuck tonight. Tuck, who doesn"t seem to have a single rostered defenseman on their squad, were better in all three zones. The Nords dug themselves into a giant hole with penalties and were lucky to only allow two power play goals on 6 penalties. Poor timing was also a factor as Greg "The Butcher of Hanover" Marsh took an unnecessary Body Checking penalty in a 4-4 game with 5:42 to play. The defensive tandem of Park & McDermott were a liability all over the ice, and Turner got burned early by Harrington on shots from the perimiter. That being said, Harrington was outstanding, putting Tuck on his shoulders early and setting the tone. If it weren"t for the brilliance of Jordy "McBreakaway" McGee, this would have been an absolutely devastating loss.