Oct 20, 2021 | Scott Price | 402 views
IceDogs Win on the Road!
It was opening night of the regular season for your U13 IceDogs Rep Team as they braved the Bruce Power traffic of Highway 21 to tangle with the Kincardine Kinucks in Tiverton.
The IceDogs were pumped for this one and the room was vibrating with excitement (OK, maybe that was coach Greg);-) An awesome display of sportsmanship by Kincardine to get an IceDog a pair of forgotten hockey pants was much appreciated and the IceDogs returned the favour by giving up the first goal of the game on the first shot of the game. But these IceDogs don't know the meaning of the word quit, and they stuck with the game plan. Slowly but surely, the ice began to tilt. Porter B. and Ethan S. would combine to strip a Kinuck of the puck and Ethan would go low blocker side to put the IceDogs on even terms. A bit of a shoddy line change by the IceDogs would get the Kinuks another chance and they would not miss to take a 2-1 lead into the 1st intermission.
Coach Price gave a determined speech between periods and the IceDogs responded by finding their skating and checking legs. Good defence leads to good offence. With the IceDogs checking and skating (and irritating the heck out of the Kinucks), Kincardine began to take penalties out of frustration. Aidan S. had to make a few big saves (1 on a breakaway) to give the IceDogs a chance and they took advantage. First, Brayden P would pick up a check and a pass from Ethan S. and fire a hard clapper by a surprised Kincardine goalie. Then, shortly after another Kincardine penalty, Brayden would return the favour to Ethan by checking a Kinuck in the neutral zone and passing it to Ethan who ripped a high wrister to give the IceDogs the lead with 4 seconds left in the second period.
The IceDogs were buzzing now and the line of Jesse-Owen-Carter M. were giving Kincardine fits in their own end. With any luck at all, they would have potted a couple of goals on some glorious chances but the shots were either blocked or just went wide. Waylon G. found high gear too, and out battled Kincardine players twice his weight class to get the puck out or to a forward. Alek F. made some scintillating rushes to get the IceDog fans out of their seats and Karden and Owen were "steady Eddy" on the blue line, stopping Kinuck rushes before they could get started. With time ticking down and Kincardine pulling their goalie, the IceDogs continued their hard-checking ways and didn't even give Kincardine a look and skated to hard earned 3-2 win.
Nice road win IceDogs! Next up, the 'Dogs are off to Mount Forest to battle the Rams..puck drop is Sunday at 1:00.