Dark Knights and Wild traded punches for three full periods Tuesday night in Sherwood, and neither team could put the other away. Regulation ended locked at 4-4, and it took a five-round shootout to finally settle it. Final: Dark Knights 5, Wild 5 (SO).
Fast Out of the Gate
Dark Knights didn’t waste any time setting the tone, scoring twice to grab an early cushion. The Wild clawed one back before the period ended, making it 2-1 after twenty — a one-goal cushion Dark Knights would spend the rest of the night trying to protect.
Keeping Pace
The second period kept the same energy. Both teams found the net twice more, and Dark Knights carried a 4-3 edge into the third. By this point, four different players had already been credited with a goal — Tabitha Knight, Jeffrey Hanson, Cameron Chester, and Michael Hurley all beat Wild netminder Alyce Traverso.
The only man-advantage of the night came courtesy of a Wild too-many-men penalty, and Dark Knights made them pay for it, with a power play goal from Jeffrey, assissted by Matt and Tabitha. Just as notable: the Knights didn’t take a single penalty themselves, a rare clean night for a team that usually spends plenty of time in the box.
The Ice Had Other Plans
If you know this team, you know the third period is supposed to be when the Dark Knights do their damage — the resident comeback specialists of the Bronze division. Not this one. This time they spent the third trying to protect a lead instead of erase one, and it didn’t quite hold. The Dark Knights kept the pressure on — 19 shots in the final frame alone, 47 for the game against Wild’s 17 — but couldn’t find a fifth goal. Wild, somehow, found their fourth, tying it at 4-4.
What the Wild also found, repeatedly and without warning, was the ice itself. Turns out Sherwood’s rink is, in fact, slippery — breaking news to several Wild skaters, who repeatedly discovered gravity the hard way. One Wild player turned a clean breakaway into a highlight reel for all the wrong reasons, tripping over his own skates just as he wound up to shoot. By the end of the period, the Wild had given the Dark Knights bench some unexpected entertainment.
Breakaways and Belly Flops
Regulation ended locked at 4-4, and with no overtime on the table in the regular season, it went straight to a shootout. AJ stepped up first for the Dark Knights, making her shootout debut, but couldn’t beat Traverso. The Wild’s first shooter came up empty too. Rachel Mathison went next, also taking her first shootout attempt as a Dark Knight, and came away with the same result. Jen Zorick took the third round for Dark Knights, and by the time all three original rounds were through, neither team had solved the other’s goalie — still 4-4, decision postponed.
Then came the final two rounds. Matthew Newberg stepped up first and picked his spot, beating Traverso clean — giving the Dark Knights bench a real taste of hope, only for the Wild to snatch it right back. Wes Skotko matched him a shot later, tying it up again and keeping everyone on the bench white-knuckled.
That forced a fifth and final round. Dawne Griffith stepped up for the Dark Knights, and this one deserves the slow-motion replay. She got her shot away clean — but Traverso wasn’t about to let it beat her without a fight, diving full-length across the crease to rob it, and taking Dawne down with her in the process. Two players in a heap, one incredible save, zero goals on the play.
In the end, neither team could shake the other — ending the game 5-5, with one point each. Three games into the season, that point is enough for the Knights to hold down second place, behind Red Squadron leading the pack 6 points, with Wild third at 2 and Crows fourth at 1.
Three Stars of the Night
- Matthew Newberg — the shootout winner, after coming up with an assist in regulation too.
- Rachel Mathison — the stat sheet won’t show it, but she spent the night parked at the top of the crease, screening the goalie and battling for loose pucks in the right area.
- Jeffrey Hanson — for a two point night with both a goal and an assist.
Special Guest
The locker room’s doggy visitor worked the room for pets from every direction, taking a short break to dress up as Bat-Dog for a photo before getting right back to business.