For some reason known only to the managers of Dammarie’s arena, the ice was not resurfaced between the pre-game warm up (in which two teams’ worth of aggressive skaters can really tear up the ice) and the start of the first period. Dammarie’s arena is very nice complex but is kept at fairly high temperature for an ice rink. This meant that the ice in the first period wasn’t as good as the Tornadoes are used to.
This made puck control more difficult than usual, according to Tornado forward Teemu Hinkula. Dammarie, being more used to the below-standard ice, could put pressure on the Tornadoes’ zone with their more active forechecking. Eleven minutes and eighteen seconds into the match, it was Dammarie who led off the scoring.
With three minutes on the clock before the end of the period, Hinkula won a battle in the corner, giving the puck to Marcus Eriksson who used his well-known wrister shot to send it to the top corner of the Dammarie net. Unfortunately for the Tornadoes, Dammarie’s revenge wasn’t too long in coming. After changing their forward line, they managed to score and the teams went into the intermission with 2-1 on the scoreboard for the home team.
Perhaps after the poor quality of the ice was brought to the attention of the rink staff, the Zamboni was brought out to resurface the ice before the second period. Tornado took advantage of the much-improved ice surface and managed the incredible feat of scoring three goals within 8 minutes. The goals were scored by team captain Ronny Scheier, Vesa Hirvonen and Ossi Uotila and suddenly the Tornadoes had a 4-2 lead. This was too much for Dammarie’s goalie and, perhaps encouraged by Dammarie’s coach, he made way for his team’s back-up goalie.
Despite the setback, Dammarie kept on fighting and, two minutes before the end of the second period, they managed to score, putting them only one goal behind Tornado. During the last shift of the period Colm Cannon’s line managed to put the pressure in Dammarie’s zone and, only one second before the horn, Tornadoes rookie Quentin Wilhelm sent the puck into the net from a tight angle, with the puck very luckily finding its way between the goalie’s legs into the net. That made it 5-3 to the Tornadoes after the first two periods.
Dammarie came back for the third period in very good spirits and they managed to keep the puck in the Tornado defensive zone. Their hard work paid off and 12 minutes into the period they had scored twice, tying the game.
But the Tornadoes didn’t give up. When his forward line came onto the ice, Colm Cannon took possession of the puck in the corner, passing it to Hinkula, whose shot luckily found its way into the net. After the next change in the forward line, Henri Öörni managed to get a breakaway. The Dammarie goalie saved the puck but luckily for the Tornadoes, one of Dammarie’s defenders dove, and managed to pushed his own goalie into the net–along with the puck!
Dammarie kept on fighting, but in the end, two minutes before the end, Cannon had another breakaway and he was able to life the puck into the top corner with a backhand. This broke Dammarie’s spine and led them to take penalties in their frustration.
The match was a very important win for the Tornadoes, guaranteeing the team a spot in the playoffs. Not only because it allowed the team to climb into to the 3rd spot in the standings, 3 points behind Dammarie, but it was also important mentally. Eight goals by eight different scorers made this a win by the whole team.
Despite the high number of goals, Gilles Mangen displayed some good moves in the net, keeping the team in the game when needed it most (including by stopping a penalty shot). Also, many players sacrificed themselves by blocking shots. For example, Tornado’s 17-year-old warrior Niklas Meijer stopped one shot with his wrist. His wrist will likely bear a mark for a few days.
There are three games left in the regular season, Dijon and ACBB at home and Champigny away. By winning all of them, Tornado will have a good chance of reaching the second spot which would guarantee a spot in the second play-off round.
The next Tornado game will be played on Saturday 19 January and it will be in Kockelscheuer arena against Dijon.
