Thunder sweep

Aaron Boyer played the part of Terrell Owens and uncapped a Sharpie. The Borderland Thunder were half-an-hour removed from their dramatic 3-2 overtime victory over the Dryden Ice Dogs there Saturday to sweep their best-of-seven semi-final series and Boyer decided to add to some already recorded history.
On a narrow support beam near one side of the wall in the cramped quarters of the humidity-filled visitors’ dressing room, Boyer took a black Sharpie and inscribed these small, but powerful words: THUNDER 3 ICE DOGS 2 (OT) 4-0 SWEEP—GO THUNDER.
“They focused on the game, and when you do that, and when you sacrifice as much as they did personally to get those opportunities, then they deserve it—they deserve to win,” said Thunder head coach Dave Allison.
But what finished well did not start kindly for the Thunder, who trailed 2-0 after two periods of a game that featured more drama than an episode of “Days of Our Lives.”
First, there was Thunder starting goalie Tyler Gordon, statistically the best playoff goalie in the SIJHL with a 0.59 goals against average and .976 save percentage, wearing his street clothes after not getting the okay from doctors to play Saturday because of increasing fatigue.
(Gordon had missed almost a month of play at the end of the regular season due to a low platelet count).
So in would step Jared Baldwin for Gordon.
Then there was the inclusion of Greg and Jeremy Beller into the lineup, who had been away for the first three playoff games because of a school trip to France and Italy, which gave the Thunder much-needed depth and size.
The game began with a swift and aggressive pace that saw a scoreless first period. Then came the second—and the penalties.
Dryden got on the board first, scoring on a rush from the left side that left no chance for Baldwin after the Thunder had been penalized five minutes into the period—and after a Dryden stick found its way onto Tyler Barker’s face at centre ice, which led to the turnover.
“I don’t think the referee had much control, especially in the first two periods. It was almost blatant cheating,” said Allison.
“There were some vicious stuff out there and if you miss it, then your linesmen should call it,” he added.
Dryden take advantage of another power play with less than four minutes left in the period to make the score 2-0. Then an obvious spear to Dennis Morrison’s abdomen brought Allison off the bench and running towards his fallen player).
Allison gave a helping hand to his temporarily-injured player and used the opportunity on the ice to refer to the spear and other incidents to the referee.
As he walked back to his bench, that’s when Allison and Dryden head coach Larry Wintoneak added another wrinkle to the already-escalating zeal the game was providing.
Screaming and pointing fingers at each other from their respective benches, Allison and Wintoneak got involved in a heated shouting match that caused a delay to the game and pulled the spectators at the Dryden Arena from their seats.
What was said is not known, but what was seen is. Wintoneak displayed a classless gesture when he threw two punches into the air and then put his hands together and placed them by his face as if he was sleeping.
Wintoneak did this a number of times and the statement was obvious: “I’ll do to you what I did last time and put you to sleep.”
Three Dryden police officers came to the arena after being notified of the incident.
Unless you’ve had your head stuck in a gopher hole the past few months, then you’re aware of the bench-clearing brawl that took place between the two teams here Feb. 22. And Allison has not forgotten the events that transpired that night.
“Well, it’s now the fourth thing that he’s done—he’s thrown a stick at our bench, he’s entered our bench, and he’s sucker-punched me,” said Allison. “And I don’t really care any more because we’re tired of it.”
And that was most likely something he relayed to his team in the locker-room during the second intermission: “Let’s finish this now so we don’t have to put up with this any more.”
“Let’s get her done boys. Twenty minutes left. Don’t hold back,” Boyer said as the team line up outside their dressing room prior to the start of the third period.
When Morrison found the back of the net five minutes into the period after Martin Kloucek prevented the puck from leaving Dryden’s zone, a casual observer could sense something unique was building.
Please see “Thunder,” C4