Aberdeen owned the momentum early, but Watertown grabbed it and never gave it back Wednesday night at the Odde Ice Center.
The Shamrocks overcame a two-goal deficit and controlled the second and third periods on the way to a 5-2 win over the Wings in NAHL Hockey action.
“They were on top of their game after the first period,” said Aberdeen coach Scott Langer. “The first period was us and then obviously they had a great second period, which set the tone for them to have a great third period. Make mistakes, turn over pucks, get beat one-on-one, it equals a loss.”
The Wings struck first when Caden Lee had a clear look on goal and rifled it into the back of the net midway through the opening period.
“I was relieved,” Lee said. “I haven’t scored in a while, so it felt pretty good to get on the board.”
Aberdeen tacked on another goal seven minutes later when a puck shot by Zan Spari Leben somehow hit the top of the Watertown goalie’s head and bounced into the goal.
“Burch (Charlie Burchfield) had a 2-on-1,” Spari Leben said. “Goalie sadly saved it, the puck bounced on the boards, won a battle, shot it, it thankfully went in off his head. … It was a bouncy puck.”
However, it was all Shamrocks after that. Watertown scored a pair of goals in the second period to tie the game, and then iced the victory three goals in the third period, the last one an empty-netter when the Wings pulled goalie Adam Dybal for another attacker in the closing minutes.
Dybal finished with 33 saves, but was unable to stop a couple of point-blank attempts by the Shamrocks.
“I thought Dybal played a very good game,.” Langer said. “We were lucky that he was in there tonight, because it could have been worse.”
Watertown had three power play opportunities in the second period, which helped to turn the momentum in the visitors’ favor.
“Again, that’s been our Achilles heel is taking untimely penalties and waking teams up,” Langer said.
Once the Shamrocks had the momentum, they got stronger as the game wore on.
“I think we just needed to be faster in the second and third period and just get on the pucks more,” Lee said. “They were chipping it out of the zone a lot and we just need to figure out how to get back, and get our red line and dump it in and play in their zone.”
Watertown took advantage of its chances, while preventing the Wings from getting the momentum back.
“They were moving the puck. We didn’t have our best game,” Spari Leben said. “We started off strong, sadly didn’t go as planned for the last 40 minutes. We gotta learn from it and get back after Thanksgiving break.”
Spari Leben will have a memorable break, returing to his home country to play for his national team.
“I’m going home. We have a World’s Junior Tournament back in home in Slovenia. I’m going to see my family, friends,” he said. “It’s exciting. It’s always a pleasure to play for the national team. We have to prove this year. We have a young team and we have to get it going.”
The other Wings will also take time off to spend time with family and friends.
“I think it’s a good way to get away from the rink, be with your family,” Lee said, “Thanksgiving, spend time with them and just think about family and other stuff, and put hockey aside for a couple days and then get back to work when we come back on Monday.”
To see a complete box score, click on the following link:
https://www.aberdeenwings.com/game-center/?game_id=2404099&season_id=11108
