Brewers complete remarkable 7 goal comeback in win over Stars

A story of two halfs and a tale of two teams.

There’s an awful lot to digest in the Port Adelaide Brewer’s remarkable 8-7 shootout victory over the Noarlunga Stars on Friday night. They were down 7-0 at the midway point of the game and against all odds clawed back to win a game the Stars had firmly in their grasp.  

It was a game that reflects both of the team’s seasons.

For the Brewers, they continue to show they are never out of a hockey game. Whether it be how they won the first NHSL game of the season despite never leading until the final shot, or how they keep battling back when down three or four goals to at least make a game of it, this team never quits.

Friday night was the kingpin of comebacks and the greatest display of the "no quit" mentality instilled in this team. Seven goals down? Won the game. For context, the biggest comeback in NHL history is five goals. 

“I don’t know what just happened,” said Brewers’ marquee player Steve Best. “We didn’t turn up for the first half. We showed up for the second half and somehow won.”

Best was one of six different goal scorers and had three points on the night. Fellow marquee player Zach Boyle also had three points including two goals. Nic Pau, Harley Anderson, Tomek Sak and Jeremy Klein were the other scorers for the Brewers.

Boyle scored a short-handed goal in the third period to make it 7-5 with 8:52 to play. With just a hair under five minutes to go, Boyle scored the equaliser. 

“I think we’re a team that no matter what the score is we keep playing our game,” Best says. “We just keep chipping away, chipping away, chipping away and just try to see what happens. It was a complete team effort for this to happen.”

“Don’t ever count us out.”

Tyler Leeming, Steve Best and Tomek Sak each scored in the game deciding shootout, which the Brewers won 3-1.

For the Stars it was unfortunately reflective of their season, too.

This story becomes another chapter in a book of missed opportunities. All season long the Stars have let chances go by the wayside. What bigger chance will you get than a seven goal advantage with 30 minutes to play?

Sure, the Stars entered the game as underdogs after starting goaltender Glen Forbes White was ruled out due to COVID close contact rules.

The Stars came out firing and played one of the best stretches of hockey we’ve seen from any team this season. Four goals in the first. Three goals in the second. Five points, including four goals from Yoann Levesque, two goals from Daniel Chen and a marker from Connor Smith. Sam Poole stopped the first 24 pucks he saw. The Stars scored a shorthanded goal.

It was total domination from the Stars.  They all brought their shovels, dug a grave, tucked the Brewers in a body bag and chucked them to the bottom of a hole.

The problem is they forgot to bury them.

All season long the Stars have found ways to squander opportunities. In Match #1 they allowed a game-tying shorthanded goal with less than three minutes to play. They lost in overtime 4-3. In Game #2 they allowed three goals on their first four shots and were down 3-0 after a messy first six minutes. They lost 6-4. In Game #4 they faced an Xtreme team who didn’t have their captain. They went 0-9 on the power play and lost by a single goal.

The Stars entered Friday just 3-for-35 on the power play. Tonight they had a 5-on-3 advantage in OT and failed to score. They even allowed a short-handed goal.

It’s a joyous day for the Brewers and a bitter pill to swallow for the Stars.

Steve Best said no matter what the score, the Brewers kept playing the same.

Nobody would expect a team to come back from 7-0 down. But Steve Best says the team just needed one goal to get it started.

“Then you get a little bit of hope and hope turns into belief. You build stepping stones. After that short-handed goal in the third we knew we could do it.”

17-year-old Brewers’ goalie Matus Trnka played a large role in the game - both for better and for worse.. He allowed seven goals on his first 20 shots.

"I was horrible," said Trnka after the game. 

But he settled it down, making his next 15 saves including numerous clutch ones to keep his team in it.

Trnka’s biggest stop came in the middle of the third when the Stars were on the powerplay, up 7-4, and looking to seal it. Yoann Levesque had a glorious opportunity but Trnka sprawled across his crease to make a sensational pad save. The Brewers grabbed the puck, raced down the ice, and Zach Boyle scored one of his two goals to make it 7-5.

“I did not play well to start,” said an honest Matus Trnka after the game. “I just thought I just need to be better and keep going.”

“We are a team. They play for me, I play for them, and I knew I had to be better. I know I am a better goalie than how I started so I just got more settled and made sure I didn’t let any more goals go by. I just had to keep fighting,” he says.

Stars head coach Sami Mantere was almost at a loss for words at the end of the game.

“We just got a bit greedy,” he says. “I think the problem was we started to think this was over. As a player you should never think that.”

“For me, it was after that Steve Best fourth goal that things went sideways. We went from overly confident to overly aggressive to having no confidence at all.”

The Stars still pick up a point and collect their fourth of the season. The Brewers move to six points with a 3-2 record. They are equal with the 3-1 Xtreme but have played one less game.

The Xtreme and Brewers clash next Friday.

What on earth will we see next in the NHSL?

SCORING SUMMARY 

1ST PERIOD

1-0 Stars - Yoann Levesque (Daniel Chen) - 16:09
2-0 Stars - Daniel Chen (T. Benson, Y. Levesque) - 14:21
3-0 Stars - Connor Smith (L. Harding, M. Komazec) - 9:20
4-0 Stars - Yoann Levesque (J. McDonnell, J. Riley) - 7:23

2ND PERIOD

5-0 Stars - Yoann Levesque (J. Riley) - SHG - 18:39
6-0 Stars - Daniel Chen (Z. Steele, J. Koubek) - 15:42
7-0 Stars - Yoann Levesque (S. Poole) - 12:40
7-1 Stars -  Jeremy Klein (T. Leeming) - 8:44
7-2 Stars - Nicola Pau (J. Klein) - 7:02
7-3 Stars - Harley Anderson (S. Best) - 5:06

3RD PERIOD

7-4 Stars - Steve Best (Z. Boyle, B. Handberg) - 14:07
7-5 Stars - Zach Boyle (Unassisted) - SHG - 8:52
7-6 Stars - Tomek Sake (B. Handberg, S. Best) - 6:22
7-7 Stars - Zach Boyle (Unassisted) - PPG - 4:08