Icedogs Take on the Cyclones on a Windy Birthday Sunday., News, U15 Rep, U15, 2021-2022 (Arran-Elderslie Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2021-2022 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Dec 12, 2021 | Kevin Waddell | 542 views
Icedogs Take on the Cyclones on a Windy Birthday Sunday.
With the first half of the season behind them, the U15 Rep Icedogs took off to Listowel on a windy Sunday afternoon to take on the Cyclones.

This was a first time visit for many of the players to the relatively new Steve Kerr Memorial Arena in Listowel.
With a walking track and warm up area well above the ice surface, the lads were enjoying such a great facility.
It took a few shifts to shake of the impact of their environment, and quickly the players began to set their own pace to the game. The shifts were short and there was intent and purpose to the play.

With only a handful of minutes off the clock, a hard forecheck left Ryan P with puck on his stick deep in the Listowel end, a quick heads up pass to an open defence, left Tyler B with time and space to place a strategically placed shot, allowing Riley J, to pick up the juicy rebound and put the Icedogs ahead 1-0 early in the first.
The game sheet says otherwise Riley J, but the keen eyes in the crowd saw what the stripes did not!

This left Listowel a bit on their heals but they did manage their own opportunities in our end. The pucks that were kicked aside by Owen W, were picked up and moved quickly to our wingers by Levi, Anderson, Spencer, Lucas and Tyler. 

Offensive zone control and heads up passing was more predominant in this game, as Nick P, Riley J, Cayden H, Avery D, The George's, Owen M, Ryan P and Chris P were looking cross ice more in the neutral zone.

With 5 mins left in the period, and on the power play, Lucas W fed a neutral zone feed to buzzing George P, who dangled two Cyclones to step inside the Listowel blue line and rifle a shot, glancing it off the goaltenders glove to put us ahead by two.

The buzzer would sound with coach Kevin's dreaded two goal lead going into the second.

With the false comfort of the two goal lead, the foot came off the throttle a bit. Owen W stayed sharp to kick away and smother any chance for rebounds as Listowel pushed back. With the Icedogs on a power play midway through the 2nd, a chased down puck in our end left a Listowel player alone to put one past Owen to put them on the board.

We survived the remainder of the period and headed off for the flood ahead 2-0. This was an opportunity to remind the players we are still winning but need to take it back to where we were playing in the first. Things got a little sloppy in the second and we lost a bit of our edge that we started the game with.

As the 3rd got under way, the legs were not quite under us yet. With a couple minutes ticked away, a missed shot from the high slot was lost by our tender, and no one picked up the loose puck, allowing Listowel for a wrap around goal to tie things up at 2.

A mid period penalty kill was handled flawlessly with Anderson G in the sin bin for and interference call.

The chances were many as the play tilted to the Listowel end. Great forechecks and puck movement by all the forwards was more evident as the period went on.

With 4 minutes left to play, and after being shadowed for most of the period, Speedy Spence, decided it was time to take things into his own hands. On an end to end rush, reminiscent of a young Paul Coffey, he put things to rest with our lone goal of the period. The clocked ticked down with extra pressure from Listowel with the extra attacker but we held our own for the victory.

You didn't get a goal on your birthday Avery D but you were a presence the whole game.