by No. 8 seed Normandy Invaders took on No. 9 seed Avon Eagles in the first round of the Baron Cup II Tournament (White Division). This was a very intense and physical matchup that went to overtime, and the Eagles emerged victorious, winning the contest 3-2.
The first period started in a rather slow fashion. Avan finally decided to start being aggressive 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the period. The Eagles were taking a ton of shots on goal, but Normandy’s defense stood strong. However, Avon was maintaining most of the possessions with the puck.
Both teams were going back and forth not doing much until Normandy’s own Justin Sakeagak came in with a huge hit to knock the puck loose. This would lead to the Invaders having a great defensive stand and then a great shot on goal that just barely misses.
Normandy was starting to regain control of the puck towards the end of the first period, but the Eagles were still playing very aggressively on defense. The Eagles matched the intensity of the Invaders, but it was too late as the first period expired.
Both teams came back out to start the second period super aggressively. Senior Jon Klimkowski was still doing everything to help get Avon on the scoreboard. Both teams seemed very anxious to get on the board and it started with a great pass from Normandy’s own Dane Galgas to Sakeagak that just missed.
The Eagles’ shots were barely missing until junior Carter Free was able to smack one in to put the Eagles up 1-0 at the 8:08 mark in the second period. Right after Free’s score, Normandy’s senior Jacob Nugent scored a goal of his own; making the score all tied up at one apiece. Free ends up scoring yet another goal in the second period to put Avon up 2-1 going into the third period.
Normandy, as they did in the second period, came out very aggressively. At the 12:30 mark, Normandy’s senior Shane Becher has a wide-open shot that just misses. Becher would then make up for his missed shot and score, making the score 2-2 with just 6:21 to go. The rest of the period was back and forth until there were seconds left. With just 24 seconds left on the clock, Becher has a chance for yet another goal but is just off. As the third period concluded, it was all knotted up at 2 apiece and the contest was heading to overtime.
Avon was super aggressive to start overtime. The Invaders seemed to be very tired as they were letting the Eagles have their way on offense in overtime. A shot by Avon just misses, however, Normandy’s senior goalie Jason Nicholson lost track of the puck and Avon’s freshman Landon Pagan was able to hit it in, ultimately winning the contest for the Eagles 3-2 in overtime.
The player of the game for the Normandy Invaders was Shane Becher with 1 goal and the player of the game for the Avon Eagles was Carter Free with 2 goals.
