This past weekend, our Paris Midget LL2 ended the first half
of our 2017-2018 season with two home games at our Brant Sports Complex with
Saturday and Sunday afternoon games.
Saturday we hosted the Simcoe Warriors 1 at our centre and we called upon our forward AP player, Liam G to help fill our bench as we were missing 5 players, all forward players, so it was a relief to have Liam join our team. Jaden and Ben were still on the injured list while Spencer, Kolby and Calvin had to report to work ... well they do have to pay for our team holiday party later that week, lol.
Wyatt captured the first goal for our team, unassisted, with less than two minutes to the start of the second period , putting us in the game.
Into the half point of the second period our Wolfpack gained the lead with a great 3 way passing play set up from Jackson to Wyatt to Liam who claimed his second goal for our team this season.
Before the game I was recounting Liam's first Midget goal with Craig, Liam’s dad who was unable to be at the game; although, he was disappointed he missed it he was definitely proud that he earned an assist and a goal for our team. I asked Liam before this last game if he can try to score again tonight, knowing his dad would be watching, Liam replied ... well that was his fault that he was not at the last game, so he wasn’t making any promises to his dad ... but he did to our team as he scored another pivotal goal for his Midget pals.
Our Wolfpack put on a great show throughout the game setting up some long passes and incorporating the defensive line in our opponent’s zone to get some hard shots in on our Warrior rivals. In addition, our forwards were continuously challenging Simcoe in their zone forcing them to clear the puck hard out of their zone, this included a slap shot that went up and out of play that a Simcoe coach, impressively, palmed out of the air. I am sure after the applause of this feat and the shock set in, he was quick to grab an ice pack to soothe his hand.
Our players were focused on the game and did not take any silly penalties; however, Owen with a great back checking play was caught with a holding penalty, losing out on a penalty free game for our team but worth taking the two minutes as opposed to a scoring opportunity against our team.
Commencing the third period, our Wolfpack were in a good position holding a 2-1 lead against our Warrior challengers; unfortunately, our team showed signs of exhaustion and the Warriors were able to slip two goals in the last 3 minutes of the game to win by a goal over our Wolfpack.
Sunday we finally met up, to face our other hometown Paris, Midget LL3 team, essentially keeping the best game to conclude our first half of the season. You can bet our players wanted to be there for our last game before the holidays, especially since they were playing against many of their high school buddies. We were also fortunate to call up our defenceman AP player Oscar Powles to our line up.
This much anticipated game, turned out to be a great game on both sides with some fancy moves, fast skating and powerful shots. LL3 won the first period finding 3 goals on our team and gaining a comfortable 3-0 lead in the game.
However, the score didn’t give an accurate account of the game, as our boys and girl were on their game, playing well together passing the puck around and our supporting defence who made some good rushes up to the opponents zones to get a good shot on their net. Despite outstanding plays from our team, LL3’s goalie foiled our scoring chances until the third period when Calvin earned our team’s first and what would turn out to be only goal of the game. The final score was 4-1.
The game had it’s funny and close call moments, including Ethan after saving a shot, the puck was no where to be seen; however, after a few moments Ethan found it hiding in his jersey. At the start of the game, Jack noted that we had two players wearing #9, realizing that we had forgotten to change Oscar’s jersey to a #19. Our trainer Greg was quick to resolve this error with some tape. Finally, Spencer noted, as the play was happening, that we had too many players on the ice and before we were called for a too many men penalty, I yanked Ben off the ice ~ close call!
Our team will soon be receiving our second half of the season games where we will face the following teams: Langton Leafs, Port Dover Pirates, Paris 3, Simcoe Warriors 2 and Tillsonburg Tornadoes 1.
Our Midget LL2 team enjoyed a holiday night out at Legends with a pizza meal and gift exchange followed by a throwback priced $2 Mounties game where we cheered on our hometown team win against the Delhi Travellers to a 8-1 win.
Happy holidays ~ see you in 2018!
