Nov 09, 2014 | bmcgrath | 776 views
Midgets Head To St. Marys
The Midget AE team travelled to St. Marys this weekend for
their first tournament action of the season.
Their opponent on Friday afternoon was a fast skating team from Oakridge. The Aeros controlled the game for the first period and a half and the Cycs found themselves down by two at the end of the second period. Coach Marc must have given the boys a blazing speech between periods as the Cycs came out and turned the game around and dominated the third period and came away with a 2-2 tie. Goal scorers were Bailey Matheson, assisted by Michael Uptigrove and Cooper Miller, and Curtis Jackson, with a big boomer from the blue line, with the assists going to Zac Robinson and Austin McGrath.
A late game on Saturday night pitted the Cycs against the Owen Sound Jr. Attack. The Attack did just as their names says and they attacked early, taking a one goal lead just over a minute into the game. The boys in black battled hard and managed to tie it up with three minutes left in the frame, with Brett Macleod picking-up a rebound in front of the empty net, assisted by Jackson and Cole McKee, only to see the tie erased 29 seconds later. Some very good defensive work kept the second scoreless, with lots chances at both ends, but the Attack took advantage of some Cyc’s penalties in the third, putting three more markers on the scoreboard, two of them on the powerplay. The game ended in a 5-1 loss for Listowel.
We were back to the rink a short nine hours later for a Sunday, 8:00 a.m. game against the boys from Oakridge again. The Listowel lads were determined to show the city kids that we country boys can play hockey, and they went right at them from the first drop of the puck. The pressure was intense from the Cyclones, forcing the Oakridge coach to call a timeout to regroup his troops just four and a half minutes into the game. The timeout seemed to work as the Aeros came out with a new life and took control, but only temporarily. The first period ended, tied at zero. Early in the second, the Cycs went to work on the powerplay and Matheson scored the first goal of the game on a wrap around. The Aeros came back and tied it up with a powerplay goal of their own, with just over a minute left in the second. With a penalty pending against the Cycs and the extra Aeros attacker on the ice, the Aeros managed to sneak the game winner by goaltender Nick O’Grady with 51 seconds left on the clock. The boys worked hard but were unable to find the tying goal. The game ended in a 2-1 win for the Aeros, ending the Cyclones hopes of moving on to the semi-finals.
Congratulations to the boys on three hard fought games against some very stiff competition. You all showed true grit and determination, and a never quit attitude!