An enthusiastic crowd at the Nakusp & District Sports Complex was entertained Saturday night as the Nakusp Peewee House Falcons battled a team made up of members of the Nakusp Volunteer Fire Department in a hockey game that served as a fundraiser to support the department’s annual July 1 fireworks show.
Unlike most hockey games, winning was not the real object here, as the game was kept lighthearted and fun. The game was broken into three 15-minute periods with another break at the half.
Live commentary and scorekeeping were provided to the crowd throughout the game by the pun-derful combination of Kim ‘Kustom’ Marchischuk and Rod ‘Price Check on Aisle Four’ Zorn, who both made certain to point out the foibles of the Firemen all evening.
Referee Cam Leitch and linesman John Cann kept the game flowing and swallowed their whistles for the most part, only breaking them out for the most egregious Fire Department offenses.
Over the jeers emanating from the scoring booth, it was the Fire Department who struck first thanks to a pair of goals from Didace ‘The French Connection’ Wilcott to put the Firemen up 2-0 early. Undeterred, the Peewees unleashed a comeback to take control of the game. Brayden Reardon sent two quick shots past Firemen goalie ‘Question Mark’ Macaulay to tie the match in the second period, and then the Peewees took the lead for the first time on a goal by Anthony Maxinuk. Meanwhile, the ace goaltending of Alex Roberts held the men (and woman) in red scoreless for over 30 minutes in the middle of the game.
Reardon would open the third period by completing the hat trick, and with barely four minutes left in the game, the Peewees held a commanding 5-2 lead.
Though the Firemen appeared to sink three shots past Roberts in the last four minutes thanks to goals from Jacob Balske and Tom ‘Phil Collins’ Zeleznik, a ‘mysterious’ scoreboard malfunction ensured that the Peewees ended the evening with a commanding 6-2 victory, followed by a hearty round of handshakes and salutes to the crowd from both teams.
The fun and frivolity were hardly contained to the game itself. Both intermissions and the halftime break featured competitions to entertain the crowd.
The two squads participated in a wheelchair relay in the first intermission that was won handily by the fast-skating Peewees over the hapless Firemen, some of whom probably could have used the wheelchairs for real after the game was finished according to the commentators.
At halftime, the two teams held an epic tug-of-war battle at centre ice that was won by the Peewees thanks to some help from a couple of defectors from the Fire Department.
The fans themselves were able to get in on the action during the second intermission. Kevin Petterson won $300 in coupons from Overwaitea after being the only competitor to score in a shooting accuracy competition, and Shannon Roberts took home $256 dollars in the 50/50 draw. All in all, it was a night of big entertainment for players and fans alike.