Novaks goal streak leads to two game winning record, News, Midget LL2, U18, 2017-2018 (Paris Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2017-2018 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Nov 26, 2017 | midget2 | 556 views
Novaks goal streak leads to two game winning record
Friday night’s game against our other hometown Midget LL1 team had a lot of hype and questions for each team and no one wanted to miss out on watching this game.  In fact, Rick said he would have taken an earlier flight home from his holiday if it meant not missing this game.  For a late night 9:35pm game start the stands were full of onlookers who wanted to watch this highly anticipated game.  

In reviewing the league standings LL1 had 7 points with 3 wins, 2 losses and a tie, while our LL2 team had just 3 points, with 1 win, 4 losses and 2 ties.  Going into Friday night’s game, each team was missing some key players due to injuries, work and suspensions which made predicting the outcome of our Friday night game difficult.  However, in reviewing the game sheet, it was clear that there were still some great players on both teams playing and without question it was going to be a nail biter of a game.

In the dressing room, our coaching staff focused on our recent successful win against Tillsonburg Tornadoes 1 and we encouraged them that if they played as hard as they have recently been playing that more success was to come.  Realizing that they were playing against some of their school friends and former team mates, I reminded them to play a clean, fun game and don’t “pretend” to be rough with them, as the referees don’t know the difference between faking and a true penalty.  This turned out to be good advice as there was only one penalty given out all game, as both teams were more focused on the outcome of the game.

The game started off in our team’s favour as we scored two goals in the first period, the first goal came off the stick of our Captain, as Calvin made one of his trademark impressive goals to put us in the lead by one, just 2 ½ minutes into the game.

Our second goal was a great 2nd line effort as Spencer offered a pass to Ben C. who scored his first goal of the season and added a second goal to our lead in the game.

Entering the second period, LL1 was not showing signs of giving up and with some great passes and rushes they returned the score to a 2-2 tie.  However, with a last minute push to the end of the period, Calvin raced to our opponents zone and with Owen driving to the net, Calvin fed him a pass where Owen  responded with a slap shot putting the puck in the back of the net.  It was a pivotal moment in the game for our team and one that deserved some congratulations as team mates celebrated on and off the ice.  Owen was now on a 2 game, scoring spree and his efforts reminded me of an old Canadian Tire commercial of a young hockey player who rised up to be a crowd pleasing hockey player named ‘Albert.’

The final period was the most exciting and nerving part of the game, as it was coming down to the clock as to whether our teams were going to tie or if we had a chance to hold on to the lead to win the game.  To remain competitive in the game there was as much movement on the bench as there was on the ice, as we were moving defenceman up to play forward and sending some forwards back to defence to offer a break and opportunity for each lines.  A special thank you to Jack, who was more than willing to play, any position on the ice, and accommodate coaches and his team to help where he is needed the most.  Similar thanks to Abby, Wyatt and Campbell for helping out offensively, as our forwards needed a break in the game to help catch their breath.

The first goal of the third period was given to LL1 which returned the score to a 3-3 tie; fortunately, I advised our team we still had ten minutes of play, plenty of time to regain the lead.  Without long, Campbell saw an opportunity and with determination skated through an entire team and made a highlight reel deek out goal.  This was arguably the most memorable goal of the season, to date, and would become the winning goal in this game.  This was Campbell’s first goal of the season and he made a strong statement with this type of goal that stunned many on and off the ice.

With a last minute attempt to tie up the game, LL1 pulled their goalie to add another skater to score and tie up the game it was a smart decision on the side of our opponents that resulted on some good scoring chances; fortunately, Ethan blocked out all shots.  Afterwards Calvin regained possession of the puck and broke out of our zone and with our bench screaming out to him about an open net with accuracy and perfect timing Calvin shot the puck from the blue line into the net, with just 22 seconds remaining on the clock.

Congratulations to Ethan for playing yet again a great game, in between periods I assured him that he was playing a great game and not to worry about those few goals he let in.  I joked with him about the one goal where he slid over to one side to block a shot; however, with the ice still fresh in the period, he over slid exposing the net up to our opponents, if only he had an anker to drop to keep him in place.

After the game in the dressing room, our coaching staff, ask for applause for our goalie, we continued clapping for our defence and finally a resounding applause for our forwards as this game was an entire team effort.

This game had some debatable calls from the referees against both teams, that were questioned from both benches and some were stating this had a direct outcome on the game.  However, if you add up the missed calls from both benches, in my opinion, you would have an equal amount of missed calls for both teams.

Realizing, for some, this was a controversial win, I went around the room with Ethan’s helmet in hand to ask for a collection for the referees for this win, as a joke.  In addition, I jokingly explained part of our win was on account I told the referees, before the game, that our team was from Ayr, knowing our referees are always harder on our home teams.

Congratulations to both teams on a great game and we look forward to a rematch with a return of some missing players from this past game that will make an even more exciting game.