Eden Prairie – Sunday, January 3, 2010. The battle for the playoffs heated up Sunday night with the Northern Horde venturing out to the western suburbs to take on the Nighthawks who were holding on to the top spot in the league having soundly defeated the Puck Hounds last week. This week, the Nighthawks would not be so lucky. To compensate for the Olympic ice sheet, both teams brought 15 skaters and this contest would sap the energy from all of them. The game was scoreless until the Nighthawks scored with 2:21 remaining in the 2nd period. While the Horde’s efforts to that point were valiant, nothing could beat the talented Nighthawks net minder. The third period opened with the Horde brining sustained pressure. Finally, after killing a Jeff Nelson roughing penalty, the Horde evened the game when Mark Paska found Gary Speier at the left post with 4:40 remaining. The goal fired up the Horde faithful (Brian’s girlfriend, out sole supporter). 1:40 later, a Chris Haack pass to Will Schultz hit the stick of Dan Kline who slid it past the Nighthawks goalie from the right point to put the Horde out in front. After Jon Zimmerman missed an empty net from 10 feet out, the Nighthawks earned a face-off in the Horde end with 16 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, the Horde D stoned the Nighthawk skaters and Pete Morrow made his 18th and most crucial save of the night to preserve the victory and move the Northern Horde into 2nd place in the standings. Once again, the Horde defense was stout as the Horde outshot the Nighthawks 22-18. Suneel Arora, Brian Hinderks and Tyler LaMont kept the feared Warlick/Errigo/Brown line away from the nets and Dan Kline blocked numerous shots diving all over the ice (that could have been him tripping on the goal line as well). Jon Nygren was huge blocking a number of Nighthawk passes and creating changes for the Horde. Next up are the Icedogs in a battle for the top of the table. The Icedogs’ goalie leads the league in GAA and save percentage and the Icedogs have scored the most goals in D2. The Horde D will need to play big to come out with a victory in this one.
