It had everything a great playoff game should have.
Momentum shifts. Great goals. A controversial no-goal. A comeback. Another comeback. Big hits. Scrums. Some nastiness after the whistles. A goalie losing his cool when an opposing player retrieved a puck for a player who scored his first goal - a pretty routine happening.
Except it was October, and neither team has played 10 games yet.
To say the Tri-City at Sioux City game Friday night - a 6-4 win for the hometown Muskies - lived up to expectations is an understatement.
Coming in, this looked like the game of the year to this point. Scrap the last three words. This might be looked back on as the game of the year.
Gavin Brindley got things started off at 4:49 for Tri-City, and it looked like the unbeaten Storm might be extending the streak. But the wheels came off a few minutes later.
Sioux City tied the game at 10:53 with Mikey Adamson’s first goal. A strange thing happened when a linemate went to retrieve the puck, as is always done when a player scores his first goal. Tri-City goalie Chase Clark seemed to take offense, giving the Musketeer player a stick in the back as he skated away with the puck.
For whatever reason, this seemingly routine play seemed to rattle Clark. Owen McLaughlin gave Sioux City the lead at 16:48 of the first, while Kirklan Irey tallied less than a minute later to give the Muskeeters a 3-1 lead.
Suddenly, Tri-City, who had given up just six goals in five games this season, gave up three in seven minutes.
Did Clark get rattled by the retrieval of the puck? It’s hard to say, but the second goal is one he’d like to have back.
The Muskies appeared to make it 4-1 early in the second, but after a lengthy review, the goal was disallowed. The best shot was from ice level, where it appeared the stick was 4-6 inches under the crossbar when contact was made with the puck, but an overhead angle and a third angle were inconclusive. It looked like a goal, but it was not ruled as such.
That seemed to spark the Storm, who went on their own scoring frenzy. Cole O’Hara cut the lead to 3-2 at 13:10 of the second, while Gavin Brindley tied the game at 14:53, setting the stage for a crazy third period.
The Storm regained the lead for the first time since early in the game when Tanner Adams scored at 5:08, but the Muskies didn’t wait long to tie it. McLaughlin got his second of the night at 7:46, but they weren’t done there.
The eventual game winner came at 10:34 off the stick of Dylan James, and the Muskies had the lead back at 5-4. A late empty net goal made the final 6-4 - meaning Sioux City scored as many goals against the Storm in one game as five opponents had combined over the previous five games.
Sioux City is looking very much like a contender - no team has shown a better ability to win the close games and do the little things to win. Tri-City is certainly a contender as well, and last night was a good test for the Storm - one that, in many ways, they passed.
On this night, whether Sioux City wanted it a bit more or the breaks went their way, it was their night. But this matchup can’t help but make you wonder if we just saw the preview of the West Division finals.
Then again, 5-1-0-0 Des Moines comes into Sioux City tonight. And the first place team is actually the Lincoln Stars - who have played more games than the other three. In the Wild West Division, nothing is to be taken for granted.
But none of that changes last night’s game. It’s going to take a wild one to top this one.
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