Ice Bisons SPREAD Eagles! Nassau-Hessen Down 5-3!
ONLINE EDITION
Comment (100243)
Share & Re-Post (96772)
Lianbook
RepTwitter
After a draw and a 2-nil shutout, the Ice Bisons face the Nassau-Hessen Eagles for their first game on "home ice", only to take the Eagles down 5-3.
"It was a great game," spoke Ice Bisons Captain Hakoda Ishii after the game. "We played good, beat the Eagles, and showed the young team how an experienced unit performs."
The Hessian team, which in a pre-tournament interview had stated how they were "looking to use their little experience to their advantage against many other unranked teams", was taken aback by the speed of the Ice Bisons in the first period: With Hakoda Ishii winning the face off, it would take the centre just four seconds to make it to Hessian net, where he would pass the puck back to Ito. Ito would take the shot, which Jacob Anders would miraculously block the shot, but on the rebound, Ishii would take the puck up over the sprawling netminder and make a goal at just 8-seconds into the game.
"It was quite the goal," Ito stated during an interview at the first intermission. "I knew what the Captain wanted to do, and simply followed him up the ice. I guess years of experience outranks the fresh meat thrown to the sharks any day."
A rivalry perhaps?
Coming back into play, the Ice Bisons would keep a strong presence on the Eagles, keeping them to just eight shots in the first period. However, as with most things under pressure, eventually there is a leak. On a breakaway, Oscar Johnson would manage to get a shot off against Zhao Hotaka, who managed to rebound the shot into the right corner. A waiting Olaf Liedland would manage to collect the puck and fee it back to a waiting Johnson, who managed to out-manoeuvre Ito and Sato Sorua, sinking the puck into the net at 12:08.
Going into the second, the Ice Bisons were determined to show the Eagles their experience. In the ninth minute, with the action happening up ice in the Eagles' zone, Todd Harrison would trip-up an unsuspecting Kuruk Ikeda and send him down. Not wanting this young player to think he could just trip anyone, Ikeda would skate up and harass Harrison. Then the game got good when Harrison would take his stick and strike Ikeda on the back and rop his gloves. Poor young Harrison, facing off against a 95-kilo Mandalorian... The fight was one of the better ones we have seen on the multiverse stage, with Ikeda easily taking Harrison to school and landing several head hits before sending his Hessian opponent down to the ice. However, the cockiness of Ikeda would get him an Unsportsmanlike Conduct for the words he exchanged with Harrison after the boy got up from the ice.
Something about a father and a sheep with his sister...
In either case, soon after the fight --- which seemed to invigorate the Ice Bisons as they would score twice in the tenth minute: Ishii would land his second goal at 10:30 and Hei Hayate would get his second tournament goal at 10:48. Nassau-Hessen would not allow those goals to go unanswered; with thirteen shots on goal in the second period, their efforts would be rewarded with the Eagles' second goal of the game in the eighteenth minute.
At the start of the third period, the Ice Bisons would switch to a more defensive style of play, hoping to keep the game to 3-2. However, at 9:26, Johnson would strike again with the help of Liedland and Karl Willard. The Ice Bisons would not allow that goal to tie the game and give them another draw. With a flurry of action in the Bisons' zone, it would be Ito who would manage to steal the puck and make a breakway to Anders. Completely caught off guard, Anders would be found spread on the ice as Ito sniped the puck straight over his head with such force the ding on the back bar would be heard right before the explosion of the fans. At 4-3, the Eagles would attempt to shut down their zone, daring to stop the Ice Bisons, and the game almost ended at 4-3. The youth and inexperience of the Eagles would be their downfall as they called Anders back to the bench at 19:10 to get an extra attacker on the ice to try and draw the game. Thankfully for the Ice Bisons, the shooting skills of Kal Skirata --- son of the Head Coach and Golden Child of the Ice Bisons --- would manage to get the puck just past the Bisons' blue line and make a long-range shot to send the puck gliding effortlessly into the net as two Eagles defencemen failed at chasing the puck down.
Experience outranks everything... Hopefully the Eagles learn their lesson now.
Copyright 2014.1 Avatarian Sports Programming Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.aspn.com.gk/articles/ahl/20882753
© 2014 Avatarian Sportts Programming Network[/spoiler]