written by: Karen MacDonald
photo: Defenseman, K. Cobean, gets ready to hold the blue line
The BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team won their best of three series against the Hanover Falcons in two games straight to move onto the next round in the Lockridge Division of the WOAA playdowns. Although the Saugeen Shores team had easily handled the Falcons in recent past, this series proved to be closer than expected.
The two teams met for the first game of the series in Ayton on Tuesday, Mar. 2nd. After the first period of end to end play, the Storm realized that this game was going to be different than the last meeting of the two teams which saw Saugeen Shores take home a 7-1 win. The Hanover team used a trap defense and a strategy of repeatedly icing the puck to disrupt the Storm’s flow of play and the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team found themselves down 1-0 going into the second. The middle period was flat for both teams and the scored remained 1-0 heading into the third. Storm goalie, Jacob Ackert kept his team in contention with quality saves and using good rebound control to take valuable scoring opportunities away from the Falcons. It was during the third period that the Storm players found their rhythm and began to apply consistent pressure to the Hanover team. The hard working defense kept the play out to the wings and held their zone. The persistence of the offensive lines paid off as they set up some nice cycling plays around the net and the Storm momentum began to build. Storm centre, Justin Marlowe, broke out short-handed, on a nice lead pass from Nick Sutter-Lammie, to launch one that beat the Hanover goalie late in the third and tied up the game. Looks like an overtime period was needed to decide this one. The Storm team continued to work together to keep the pressure on the Falcons. The Storm players were relentless in their quest to end the game on their terms. The defense held the blue line and the forwards kept up their cycling around the net. The gritty team effort of the grinder line (MacDonald, Martin and Sutter-Lammie) resulted in a well earned goal as Sutter-Lammie tapped in a rebound off of a Murray Martin shot and subsequent win, 2-1 for the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team.
Just two days later, the two teams faced off once again, this time in Southampton on Thursday, Mar. 4th. This game would be another nail-biter. The BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team looked like the had the Hanover Falcons slightly back on their heels for the majority of the game but try as they might, the Storm just couldn’t find a way past the Falcon netminder who kept his team in the game with some nice saves. The score remained at doughnuts all around until late in the third period. After a penalty rich game for both teams, and a couple of timeouts to try and settle everyone down, the Storm found that they were able to capitalize on a late game power play. Jack Middleton sent the puck deep into the offensive zone and Thomas MacDonald rushed the Hanover defense and sent a nice pass out to the front of the net to the perfectly positioned Justin Marlowe. Marlowe took a low shot and beat the goalie, five hole. Both MacDonald and Middleton earned assists on the goal. Murray Martin put the icing on the cake as he stole the puck from a Hanover player on a nice forechecking play to skate in and launch a pretty shot from the blue line into the empty Falcon net. Storm goalie, Jack Flarity earned his third shutout of the season with his solid play in net. The 2-0 win put the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team through to the next round of this WOAA playdowns set to start next week.
Next up for the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team is the Chris Knott Tournament, Mar. 5th -7th.
Go Storm Go!