The PeeWee AEs met the Mitchell Meteors for a
rainy Saturday night tilt in Monkton.
This was their first pre-season game as an official team, and the boys
came ready to win.
The night’s starting offensive lineup of Kris, Jacob and Seth would prove to be a force to be reckoned with as, in the first 5 minutes of the game, Kris buried one in the top corner with the assist from Liam. Strong D to D passing by Brayden and Connor and some tenacious battling against the boards by Johnny had the Cyclones looking poised for their second victory in this exhibition series against the Meteors.
But the Meteors responded a few minutes later by squeaking one past Lucas in net. The boys quickly shook off this goal, but realized that the Meteors were proving themselves worthy opponents compared to last Sunday’s home game that the Cyclones won 6-2 with goals from Seth (2), Jacob (2), Bret (1) and Maddox (1). These Meteors were burning a little brighter than expected!
The Cyclones found themselves on the power play with 3:23 seconds left in the first. The line of Kris, Jacob and Seth just couldn’t find the net. The Meteors drove the puck out of their end and got off a couple shots. Fortunately, strong goaltending by Lucas kept the Meteors from scoring shorthanded. With 2:31 seconds left, another Meteor penalty put the Cyclones in a 5 on 3. Despite some sharp passing and stick handling by the line of Bret, Bo and Maddox, they were unable to put one past the Meteor goaltender.
Period 2 began in a tie, and a sweet breakaway by Seth, with a follow up shot by Kris looked promising, but they were both shut down by solid goaltending. Justin, Owen and Nick kept the offensive pressure up, trying to chip the puck out of our end, but at 7:22, the Meteors scored again, putting the score at 2-1.
Ten seconds later, another powerplay in the Cyclones favour came and went with no goals scored.
Period 3 saw the boys battling to clear the puck out of their end, struggling to get past strong Meteor defense. Then at 8:03, the Meteors poked one more past Lucas, putting the score at 3-1. Four minutes later, Kris, assisted by Jacob, wowed the crowd with another dinger and the win, or at least the tie, seemed within reach.
With another minute and seventeen seconds remaining, the Meteors handed the Cyclones yet another power play. With several shots taken, and scrambles in front of the net, the boys just couldn’t find their groove and the buzzer went with a score of 3-2 for the Mitchell Meteors.
The pre-season has ended, and the PeeWee AEs have demonstrated some strong skating, stick-handling and backchecking. With some fine-tuning, and a few more practices under their belts, this team could be the one to watch.