Last Tuesday the Predators traveled to St. Marys to play the Lincolns again and went down to defeat 7 – 4. The Predators opened the scoring early in the game when Brandon Ethier scored at 51 seconds. Duncan McSoreley and Brent Andriash got assists on the goal. At 16:29 of the first frame they took a 2 – 0 lead when Rhys Thornton passed to Salmi Jomaa who got the goal. Two power play goals by the Lincolns in the second period allowed them to tie the score before Brendan Stewart scored from Matt Melo and Salmi Jomaa to retake the lead. An unassisted goal late in the period allowed the Lincolns to tie the game again before going into the third period.

In the early going of the third period the Predators took three penalties in a row forcing them into a defensive roll. The result of the sustained pressure was they trailed 6 – 3 by the half way point of frame. Brendan Stewart bagged a goal at 10:19 to pull them within two, with assists going to Matt Melo and Ben Woodley. The Lincolns scored their last goal with just 5 seconds left to make the final 7 – 4.

On Saturday,  the first place London Nationals were in town. Kalvin Thornton and Ben Woodley assisted on Adam Arseneault’s power play goal at 1:37 of the first period. The players skated and worked hard although they allowed the Nationals 24 shots on goal to their 11in the period. Sean Parker held his team in with some great saves and allowed them to keep the lead. With 2 minutes left in the frame the Predators had another power play. With a minute left with the odd man advantage they were forced to take a face off in their own zone. Complacent play mixed with good hustle by the Nationals

resulted in a short handed goal and a 1 – 1 tie to end the period.

In the next two periods the Nationals showed the fans in attendance what text book –tape to tape passes- and following up plays to maintain puck possession will accomplish. Although the defensive effort of Sean Parker in goal and Ben Woodley on defence deserved mentioning, the difference in time of puck possession and shots on goal was overwhelming. Again, unforced give-a-ways or errant passes which caused potential rushes to collapse plagued the Predators. The shots on goal tally of 60 – 25 resulted in an 8 – 1 final score.

The game scheduled on Sunday in Chatham was postponed and will be re-scheduled.