The 2011-12 season started off on a positive note with 2 wins in the bank. Our season opener was a 4-0 win over the Mildmay Monarchs, with all 3 lines playing well together and earning our goalie (Lucas) his first shutout victory of the season. Our second outing was a come from behind win against the Mt Forest Rams. This game found us trailing 3-1 in the 2nd period but with some positive reinforcement the Cyc’s woke up the scoring and came back with 3 unanswered goals to a 4-3 victory.
Riding our second straight win, we went to Normanby for our first road game of the year. This game started off the right way and we found ourselves up by 2. However Normanby didn’t let up, and after 2 periods the game was tied at 4. The Cyc’s struggled to get their shots away and ended up with their first loss of the season.
We then proceeded to lose our next two regular season games to Minto (3-2), and Durham (6-5). We played exceptionally well against Minto, which is a very strong team, however our defensive game was suffering against Durham causing the team to come up short.
Our first tournament of the year was in Walkerton where we played an exceptional game 1 against the host team. Definitely a nail biter, as the Cyc’s pummeled the Walkerton goalie that refused to be beaten. Walkerton tied the game up in the 2nd 1-1 and with just over 2 minutes left in the game scored a short- handed goal to take the lead. In a game where we outplayed our opponent we ended up with our 4th straight loss by a single goal.
Our second game was against a stacked team from New Hamburg. For the most part, we played with the Huskies but came up short 4-0 (with 2 late goals). The coaching staff was happy with the effort put forth by all the players, but also found areas that will continue to be improved upon.
Suffering 5 straight losses, the Cyc’s continued their regular season play in Mt. Forest which turned out to be nail-biter with the Rams. Missing Lucas in net due to sickness, we were fortunate Jordan helped bring us to a 3-2 victory.
The players have settled into designated lines and positions and coaching staff will continue to encourage aggressive forechecking and improved defensive play. Stay tuned for another update later in the season.
Coach Paul