Feb 20, 2022 | Brent Wathke | 537 views
Sometimes You Have a Game For the Birds
Your U11 Rep IceDogs travelled to the west coast to battle the Kinuck AE Team in Tier 3 Lockridge Pool B Play-offs this afternoon.
After Mother Nature won the battle with the school buses Thursday and Friday, then got the upper hand with the Hockey Gods Saturday canceling all Grey-Bruce Play-offs, she really tried to give it one more twist today with high winds to make the trip a real test for parents experiencing play-offs in the early stages.
Our team was down players and family thanks to protocols, so reinforcements from the taxi squad were brought in to give our crew a boost. Much like the travel, the first period started messy and at times hard to see what direction we were going. With forwards play D, wingers playing opposite wings and common lines bumped around, the Atom-Pathway philosophy was put to its’ test today.
Midway through the first, two of our seasoned veterans (who look a lot like Draisaitl and McDavid) got the IceDogs on the board first. Hard work from Calhon U. got the puck to Landry W. who ripped a puck past a very good Kinuck goalie glove side. Only seconds later, Jack T. looking like Marty Brodeur made a huge stop on a Kinuck breakaway mere seconds after we scored.
This game was going to be nasty, ugly and felt like who blinks first may get stung. The zebras kept the game in check today not missing a thing. At the very end of an all-out effort PK, the IceDogs gave up a goal midway through the second seeing the game tied at 1-1.
Penalty trouble early in the 3rd allowed Kincardine to get their first lead of the game. Like I said earlier, who blinks first may get stung and the boys in stripes were not missing a thing. The IceDogs best pressure with about 6 minutes to go lost all traction on a whistle because a bird (yes, a real bird) flew through the play. The final 5 minutes saw a crossbar, broken sticks, a goalie pulled, a timeout and a strong opposing ‘tender who kept the Dogs from knotting things up.
These are the play-offs and this game was all that and then some. For these kids (and parents) who have not gone through the highs and lows of what playoffs are, games like this are exactly what we need. The start of a rivalry forming for sure.
Special shout out to taxi squad players Sawyer M. and Will H. You played well and were a positive presence in the room and on the bench.
Next action, (when we will be back to a full roster and healthy) is this Thursday in Tara at 7:15 pm. This will be the first home play-off game vs TCDMHA.