Up 3-1 going into the third period last night it looked like the Norwich Merchants were well on their way to grabbing a 3-1 series lead, Woodstock Renegade Forward Travis Horvath would have other ideas. Horvath scored 39 seconds into the third period cutting the lead to 3-2 and giving Woodstock life. For the majority of the third period it seemed as Woodstock had the Merchants on their heels and looking like they were playing not to lose. It seemed like they might get out of it with the win but with just under a minute left Woodstock called a timeout and lifted goalie Alex Gegeny in favour of a extra attacker, with 41 seconds left Horvath would bang in the tying goal past Norwich goalie Cody Vinnai. With everyone in the building thinking overtime Horvath again would have something to say about it racing in along the far boards and cutting in front of the Norwich net and wristing a shot past Vinnai with 11 seconds left to take a 4-3 lead. Al McEwin would add a empty netter in the dying seconds to seal the 5-3 shocker and set up Game 5 Friday night in Norwich.
I Hope Norwich coach Dave Smith can get his players to respond and play like they did in Game 3, I do however have to question a few of his moves in last nights game.
1. Why in the last minute up by a goal is the defence pairing of Kevin Keuhl and Dan O'Hearn are out on the ice, Nate Geerlinks and Dan Graul were their best pairing all night why not have them out there in the last minute, chances are Horvath doesn't get a chance to play hero if they were not out there.
2. Why change the lineup from Game 3, I would have left F Matt Brown in the lineup and kept Shayne Ross out of the lineup if it wasn't broke don't fix it.
Disappearing Act: Norwich Captain Ryan Baetz who last year during the playoffs was their leading scorer has looked invisible through the first four games only garnering an assist in last night loss.
Other Choke jobs: Last night wasn't the first time Norwich has had a collapse of that nature in the Dave Smith era. It has happened on 3 other occasions.
January 2 2009 vs Simcoe: Simcoe scores 3 goals in 15 seconds to overcome a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead they would go onto win 5-3.
December 10 2006 at Simcoe: Simcoe scores 3 goals in 2:20 to overcome a 6-4 deficit to win 7-6.
February 3 2007 vs Simcoe: Simcoe scores 3 goals in 5:26 to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3.
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