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Minor Peewee MD vs West London Hawks
Oct 18, 2007
An early three
on one break started the game for the Sarnia Sting minor peewee
M.D. hockey club as Curtis Lindsay forwarded the puck up to his
center man Tyler Groulx for a shot from twenty five feet out.
Save off the pads and the rebound caromed to Eric Cunningham for
a back-handed effort, save Jordan Mehlenbacher.
Cunningham and
Lindsay teamed up again at 2:22 of the first period for opening
goal of the contest as Cunningham dug profusely behind the net
and fed the backhand pass out to the slot for Lindsay. A quick
flick of the stick and the snap shot glanced in off the left
post behind Mehlenbacher. A pass from Mitch Hodgins to Marcus
Dusseault cleared the Sarnia zone but was just out of
Dusseault’s reach. A vapour cloud marked the route as James
Pavey went flying down the wing to negate the icing and control
the puck for the Sting in the West London Hawk’s zone.
Garrett Stevens broke toward the centre of the ice at the blue
line and fired a shot on goal that was directed to the corner
cleanly by Roan Mackay, the netminder du jour for the Sting.
Thomas Waight,
# 14 a towering presence on the ice, broke in over the blueline
and as he prepared to fire had his pocket picked by Dusseault
who ended the threat, cleared the zone and head manned the puck
to Pavey. Pavey, the smooth skating left-winger, dashed down the
boards over the line and had a good scoring opportunity.
London’s clearing attempt tipped at the half wall by Pavey and
picked up by Groulx. He let a shot fly from near the face off
dot, the goalie was not expecting. With a dozen seconds to go in
the period Mehlenbacher was counting on the zone to be cleared,
but it was not to be as Groulx beat him far side to post the 2-0
Sarnia lead at 9:50 of the first period. Groulx got his name on
the official game report again sixty-five seconds later, this
time in the penalty box, a two minute infraction for hooking.
London’s Nicholis McQuiggan attempted to skate across the
blueline where he was met by Konnor Harris with solid body check
as the whistle sounded for the Groulx hook.
Good penalty
kill doesn’t adequately describe the performance for the next
two minutes. Dean MacEachern stole the puck on London’s initial
breakout attempt by angling the skater to the boards, taking
away his space and pouncing just as the pass attempt was made to
gain control of the biscuit. London able to clear the zone and
down into Sting territory but had the puck stripped there by
Scott Ferguson. Ferguson, the short handed rush up ice and a
backhand try stopped and held for the face off by Mehlenbacher.
By the time the penalty expired Sarnia had three shots on goal
and London none!
Offensive face
off to the left of Mehlenbacher, won by Groulx back to the
point. A shot there from Ferguson, right on the net and the
rebound was cleared away. London out over the line and play was
halted to allow Ferguson a chance to take up residence in the
two-minute time out cubicle, tripping the call. VanBilsen
and MacEachern out for the kill, this time with Calvin Hughson
and Kevin Dann the point men. MacEachern skated the puck in
behind the net for the wrap around try but failed. Puck in the
slot, cleared away but halted at the blueline by Hughson. The
shot attempt did not get through but deflected to VanBilsen. He
moved off the wall to the slot and fired a shot into the left
hand leather of Mehlenbacher. The penalty expired without
incident.
A few shifts
later, even strength play, Hughson carried the puck over the
London line and split the defence and was able to get a shot
off, while being accused. The shot along the ice hit the bottom
of the net less than an inch from upping the tally.
London defenceman Logan Evans wound up for the shot from the
point, but blocked fearlessly by a sprawling MacEachern to bring
the second period to a close. Shots on goal sixteen to seven in
the Sting’s favour after twenty minutes of play.
Hodgins took a
roughing penalty on the first shift of the third period. This
time Pavey, Dusseault, Harris and Ferguson drew the short-
handed assignment and again Sarnia was able to control the play.
Pavey grabbed the puck near the centre red line and although it
was early in the penalty kill, sent it deep and dashed to the
bench. A smart, unselfish play, especially since the door to the
Sting bench was inside their blueline in the third period.
London did not fail on this power play as Andrew Russell
sprinted in off the right wing, cut to the centre, pulling
Mackay off the left post. It was not a very hard shot but
perfect execution as London put themselves right back in this
contest, making the score 2-1, with still over 12 minutes to
play. Thirty seconds later, Sarnia was nabbed for another
penalty, an interference call against MacEachern, but was able
to kill off the time with no damage done.
Hodgins had the
puck at the blueline and he got sandwiched, Brad Griffith and
Russell teamed up and hit him simultaneously to jar the puck
loose. Later in the same shift Hodgins skated down over the line
one on one with Griffith, snuck the puck through his legs and by
him for an excellent scoring chance. Russell crossed the
Sting blueline, trying to split the defence of Christian
Kerrigan and Ferguson to no avail, stick checked and sent to the
corner by Ferguson. London dumped the puck up the wall,
taken by Kerrigan. His clearing attempt off a London leg, picked
up again by Kerrigan and the pass again caromed off a shin but
this time straight to Van Bilsen. Over the blueline and a hard
wrist shot, stopped by Mehlenbacher but he was unable to control
the rebound and it was scooped up by MacEachern for the three to
one lead.
London took a
penalty, their first of the game, with a minute forty left to
play, the goaltender Mehlenbacher sited for slashing.
Sting able to finish off the game on the power play and win the
contest 3-1. Unofficial total shots on goal were 24-12 in favour
of the visiting Sarnia Sting.
When asked to
comment on the game Marcus Dusseault stated “there seemed to be
a lot of play in our feet, kind of bunched up a bit, but once we
spread out we able to get a little more space. Dino was awesome
on the penalty kill tonight. Maybe the game plan for the next
game will be to take more penalties!” |
