Dec 5, 2009, Southampton. The Dunlop Fuels/Home Hardware Novice BB group left the locker room as 13 boys and a girl heading for a game, and came back from that game as a team. In an epic battle with the BCH Ice Dogs, the Novice BB team gelled and showed the home crowd what it means to play together and really work for the puck against a strong team. The result? A 5-4 victory for the Storm.
The Ice Dogs relied heavily on the skill of their number 32, Sam Dupuis, who rarely left the ice and managed 3 of the 4 Ice Dog goals, but it was not enough to gain them another victory over the Storm.
The first period went straight into high gear with both teams going hard. The Storm got some early traction with some excellent work and shots by Sam Maksymyk and Jacob Condy.
The Storm scored the first goal of the game with 4:21 left to play on a flurry of activity in front of the Ice Dog net – Cam Lightfoot fired the puck in and created a rebound opportunity for Shawn Charlebois whose shot rebounded again to be slammed in the net by the Storm’s assistant Captain Ben Lalonde.
The lead was short-lived as BCH scored their first goal 20 seconds later to tie the game at 1-1.
Euan Mackintosh showed some grit and initiative on defense and sacrificed his body to save a shot at the end of the first period. Ethan Greig did not hold anything back going for a spare down the boards as he pulled a “bowling ball”, taking three Ice Dog players down with him.
Coming into the second period, the play went hard in both directions. Dex Wasylishyn was solid as a rock under early pressure and saved some excellent shots from Ice Dogs number 32, but the Ice Dogs managed a goal which was almost rescued by Storrm captain Isaac Fewster as he rushed back to help. Isaac played well throughout the game leading the Storm rushes with some great breakouts from the Storm zone.
With 3 minutes to play in the second period, Shawn Charlebois scored the Storm’s second goal, making the most of a slow rebound by the Ice Dog goalie Cam Ryan and tying the score at 2 apiece.
The third period featured great play from both teams. Hunter Cannon worked hard on defense to keep the Ice Dogs back, and Reed Stauffer, filling in for Austin Hagen, rose to the occasion more than once to help the team.
5 minutes into the period Kiandra Martin was in the right place at the right time in front of the Ice Dogs net. She stopped the puck, she looked for the perfect opening, she calculated the angle and she slammed the puck into the net low to the left side.
The next four minutes of play resulted in 4 goals being scored, 2 by each team. Assistant Captain Cam Lightfoot put on a great show of stick-handling, getting past 4 Ice Dog players before putting the puck in the net. Isaac Fewster and Sean Charlebois again demonstrated their team-work as they fed a perfect pass across the net to Ben Lalonde who put it away for his second goal of the game.
At this point the Storm were leading by 5-4 with five minutes left to play. The pressure was intense as the Storm fought to maintain their narrow lead.
Two minutes from the end of the game, Ice Dogs’ number 32 came as close as you can get to scoring on the Storm and the sound of his shot hitting the goal post rang out across the arena.
In the final minute of the game, the Ice Dogs pulled their goalie and mounted a sustained attack on the Storm who buckled down and kept them away from the Storm net, ending the game with a Storm win 5-4 over the Ice Dogs. Well done Storm!
Written by: James Mackintosh