Mar 03, 2020 | Kevin Waddell | 465 views
The Playoffs roll on
With four games in the books, the Arran Elderslie PeeWee LL #1 squad is sitting with 3 wins and two losses. With two teams ahead of us in the standings, the close fought and tight games tell, the round robin win is still within our reach.
On February 24th, we hosted the Huron Bruce Blizzard in Chesley and fell to them in a heartbreaking 2-1 loss. That one stung the players as we controlled the majority of the game but the puck just didn't bounce our way. With the lone goal coming from Cole L. we couldn't capitalize on our many scoring opportunities. A tired Brussels squad could barley keep it out of their own end. We took the play to Huron-Bruce and they left knowing they took one away from us.
On Sunday March 1st, in Chesley, we faced the Owen Sound Red team for the first time. To say the lads were caught off guard is an understatement. The officials were letting both teams play, however relentless hacking of our goalie before any whistle let them get 2 controversial goals on us. Lucas S scored off a helper from Austin L and Nick P scored with help from Kaden C. It was a rough game and hats off to Sean W for taking on their biggest player and not backing down. Bumped and bruised he finished the game strong. A tip of the hat to Owen W who kept the puck covered time and time again after relentless hacking from the OS squad. We will be ready and will adapt to that style of play in the rematch.
Last night we hosted the Saugeen Shores team in Paisley. After a great 5-3 come back victory in our first meeting, it was apparent they wanted revenge and perhaps our squad took things a bit lightly from the get go.
Despite popular belief, the great 88 has found a comfortable new home on left wing. With only 2 and a half minutes of the clock, A wide open Lucas S fired snipe from the left slot on a great pass from Austin L. Just over a minute later the dynamic duo struck again, Lucas fired another one home after some great forechecking by Leithan and Austin.
With the dreaded 2 goal lead, we took our foot off the gas and Saugeen Shores capitalized twice leaving us tied up, heading into the 2nd with 23 seconds left in the 1st............. well so we thought.
Off the faceoff, Austin's line with Lucas and Leithan, took the play to Saugeen's end and the relentless forecheck left Leithan alone in front, buring it with 7 seconds left in the period.
The second period was a battle in our own end with many chances from Saugeen as we failed to keep it our of our zone or get it deep in their zone. With 2:49 left in the period, Austin L danced and weaved out of the neutral zone and buried to put us up by two.
We are allergic to 2 goal leads! lol
A minute later, Saugeen answered back with on of their own, on a long hard shot that Owen would like to have back.
Frustrated we headed to the dressing room for the flood. Asked the lads to calm down and keep using your teammates. "They can stop one of you, but they can't stop all of you"
As the 3rd got underway, the great 88 went deep and dug out the puck and looped out and rifled it up over the goalies shoulder, completing the hat trick!
Credit to Saugeen shores for not backing down. They kept the fight coming and with 5:28 left to play they brought the score to withing 1. With less than a minute to go, Saugeen calls a time out with the faceoff in our end. With the clock winding down, they kept in our end with saves from Owen W and our D doing their best to keep the house clear. With a whistle on an Owen W save, there was 7.5 seconds on the clock. Time out Coach Kevin. At the bench the play was drawn up. Cole L, draw to Ryan S, who would pin the puck on the boards behind our net to kill the clock. What happened could not have been drawn up any more perfect on a coach board. Winning the draw by Cole to Ryan, and by the time the opposition saw what was going on..... the buzzer ended the game. An exciting win to end the game.
This is far from over. Lets keep it going!