Mooretown Storm Atom AE and Dorchester to play a rubber match

 

The Best 2 out of 3 Series between these very evenly matched teams got under way this past weekend with a home and home set of games.

 

Game 1 - Saturday in Mooretown

 

Mooretown 3 Dorchester 1

 

Having only met once all season, a 7-4 win for Mooretown on opening day, the Storm didn't waste any time in welcoming Dorchester back to town.  With just over a minute and half gone in the 1st Period Ben Anderson picked up a pass from Griffin Dillabough and out raced the Dorchester defenseman to cut in on the goalie.  With Anderson's deke getting partially blocked, linemate Kirk Smith drove in hard to deposit the rebound to give the Storm the early lead.

Just over two minutes later, while shorthanded, Hayden Gardner would retrieve a Brett Farr pass up the boards and send Trevor Bogaert in alone on a long breakaway.  Bogaert faked the shot and smoothly put the puck in on his backhand.
 

The 2nd Period saw the game seesaw back and forth with some great body checks and offensive chances by both teams.  A missed 2 on 1 by the Storm led to an odd man rush the other way and Dorchester got to within one to send the game into the 3rd with the Storm up 2-1.

The 3rd Period continued the furious pace of the 2nd with the teams trading chances and both goaltenders coming up big.
 

With Dorchester pressing for the equalizer but unable to pull their goalie, Dillabough sent Smith through the neutral zone with a nice pass and Smith made no mistake placing a perfect shot in the far low corner to seal the win with 57 seconds left in the game.

Kaden Fulcher went the distance in goal and played a solid game behind a strong defensive effort from his team.

 

Game 2 - Sunday in Dorchester

 

Mooretown 2 Dorchester 3

 

In a must win situation at home Dorchester came out flying and worked the puck deep in the Mooretown zone for the first few minutes of the game.  With the Storm just getting their legs an unlucky bounce that caused the puck to flip over the back of the net and spin into the Mooretown net put the home team on the board first.  Mooretown came back hard and just over two minutes later Anderson and Smith broke down the ice on a 2 on 1.  Anderson beat the defender wide before sliding a perfect pass across the crease to Smith who calmly put it in the open side for a beautiful goal.

The 2nd Period was a tough one for the Storm as the 'out' door for the forwards was positioned deep in the offensive zone.  The Storm managed to work it out with some smart changing on the fly but late in the period an odd man rush led to a Dorchester forward burying a wrist shot inside the post from in close.
 

In the 3rd the game got even more physical and fast paced.  With the Storm out-chancing the home team by a wide margin they were finally able to tie the game as, with a powerplay just expired, Cooper Muxlow fired in a laser from the slot using a nice screen by his linemates.  Gardner and Bogaert picked up assists.
 

However, with just over four minutes to play, and a Storm player in the box, Dorchester got the powerplay winner on a long knuckleball that deflected off a stick high into the net.  The Storm didn't give up and with their net empty battled hard in the Dorchester zone but couldn't come back to tie it up.
 

Kyler Raymond played a strong game in goal and did a great job in shaking off that first flukey goal to come up big the rest of the way.

 

Game 3, to decide who moves on to the next round, will take place back in Dorchester next Sunday.