Nov 11, 2008 | Mike Weber | 797 views
Third Period Flurry Leads Midgets To Victory
The Midget Reps were back at it on Tuesday night with a game against the Saugeen Shores Storm. The game started off slow but ended with a flurry of goals and a little tussle.
The game started off slow as both teams secured their own zone with numerous scoring opportunities turned away from each goaltender. As things seemed to be turning the cyclones way, a misplay by a defenceman leaving the zone ended up giving the Saugeen team the early lead in the opening minutes of the hockey game. Listowel battled back with a goal just over a minute later as hard work down low by Jonathan Hunsberger paid off; as he threw a quick pass to Justin Jacklin who put the puck upstairs to tie the game at one. Saugeen regained the lead minutes later with an powerplay goal that caught goaltender David Irwin by surprise.
The Midget team kept working hard throughout the rest of the period which evidently paid off as Josh McPhee busted wide with a Hunsberger pass and rifled a soft shot past the Saugeen netminder. Listowel continued to pressure the Saugeen defence down low throughout the rest of the period creating numerous scoring chances. At the 4 minute mark of the first period, Listowel gained the lead as Vince McNichol got the puck through the Saugeen defence and put a shot down low on the netminder. The first ended in a 3-2 lead for Listowel.
The second period was dominated by the storm as they came out flying and put numerous scoring chances on the board. Listowel got into penalty trouble which has been Listowel's major problem this season. Saugeen capitalized on two powerplay opportunities which gave them a 4-3 lead after the second period.
After a discussion during the intermission, the Midget reps seemed to have gained some momentum during the opening minutes of the period as they came out throwing thunderous bodychecks and putting lots of shots on the Saugeen netminder. With Listowel on the powerplay, the team worked the puck back and forth down low and out to the point to create numerous scoring opportunities. Listowel's Justin Jacklin worked the puck up the sidewall and with a great pass across the seam he hit Hunsberger who wacked it home. Tying the game 4-4.
Listowel seemed to have regained some momentum and threw the Saugeen team off their game. Listowel kept on pressuring the Saugeen team throughout the remainder of the period. At around the 6 minute mark, the "McNichol" show took over as he used his size to his advantage, sitting in front of the net and popping home the trash. His next shift he was back at it again, throwing home another goal to get the hat trick. It would be fitting that his next shift he took the puck wide and threw a wrist shot on net that made its way threw the Saugeen netminder for his fourth on the night. Great work.
After the flurry of goals, the game started to get a little nutty as the Saugeen team could not bear the fact that they had just played a terrible period of hockey. Saugeen started looking for fights and running players. The final straw was when a Saugeen player drove to the net hard deliberately throwing the Listowel defence on the goaltender. A shoving match broke out as the Listowel team defended their goaltender. The Saugeen player just seemed to want to fight and dropped his mitts grabbing the closest cyclones player, Corey Conners. They both threw a couple punches but nothing seemed to break out as the linesmen seemed to break it up.The Saugeen player ended up getting an agressor penalty as well as fighting; as did Listowel's Conners. Listowel ended up with a four minute powerplay where Brett Buchanan finished off Listowel's scoring with the eighth and final goal as the Midgets won 8-4.
The Midgets start their quest at Silverstick next week in Wingham. Please come out and cheer on your Midget Rep Cyclones.