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Nordiques claim regular season closer, look toward playoffs

  • Published
  • By John Stuart
  • Staff Writer
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  It was an open and shut case Sunday afternoon, the kind every sports fan likes to see from time to time - especially if it's your team who lands on the good side of the law. And for the Nordiques, there was no better way to end the regular season of summer league play than to slap shot their nemesis Party Boyz to a 3-2 loss. Such were the spoils in a game that wasn't as close as the score suggests.

Everything seemed to be clicking for the Tinker brethren. With solid passing, copious shots on goal and stifling defensive play, it was everything you read about in the textbooks - a bit surprising, considering the number of starters the Nordiques were missing.

The first period went down mostly as an extended warm up, as both teams played each other close and neither putting a biscuit in the basket. But that all changed in the second. Chris Beatty first spiked the Party Boyz punch at 14:04, slipping the puck past the veritable wall of defenders from the blue line for the goal. Then, less 30 seconds later, Shayne Carroll found his inspiration with a sniperish goal of his own from the opposite side of the blue line. If the party wasn't over, the mood of the tuxedo-clad hockeyeurs had definitely changed for the worst.

At 7:26 Miguel Lopez struck the Party Boyz death knell, on a assist from Carroll. Where the previous two goals were scored from the Back 40, Lopez all but hand delivered his goal shot from the crease.

A late score by the Party Boyz in the second closed the period out. They slid one past the Nordiques goalie early in the third period as well, but with little concern, as the momentum stayed heartily in the Nordiques favor.

The Nordiques finished their regular season at 4-6-4 overall and take a week off before skating into the four-team playoffs. If all goes to plan, the Airmen should claim the title, forward Jeremy Brennan said.

"If our roster is good we should play well," Brennan said. "Our lines play well together and we just have to get the right people paired up for the playoffs."