Feb 17, 2011 | Sean Fowler | 1343 views
Scotiabank Storm Novice LL3 Start Playoffs
The
Scotiabank Storm Novice LL3 opened up their 2011 playoff campaign on the losing
end of a 7-4 decision last night (Feb 16) against their season long rivals the
Arran Elderslie Ice Dogs. Despite finishing first overall in the regular season
standings, the Storm LL3’s have been unable to solve the Ice Dogs yet this
year.
As with the previous two meetings this season, last night’s game was a spirited affair with end-to-end action throughout and some highlight reel saves by both goaltenders.
The Storm opened the scoring early in the first period with Curtis Vandenberg scoring on a nice tic-tac-toe play from line-mates Walker McNabb and James Fowler. As expected, the Ice Dogs battled back hard with wave after wave of offensive rushes, but the defensive core of Darin Shular, Logan Lemcke, Ryan Perry and Sam Kozelenko managed to ward off virtually all attackers with solid defensive zone play. The Ice Dogs that did manage to squeak through the Storm defence were quickly dismissed by Storm goaltender Matthew Martin who made more than a few unbelievable saves in the early going.
The Ice Dogs formidable forward lines eventually managed to get one past Martin midway through the second period as they seemed to start clicking, but Storm leading scorer Skyler Pomroy scored her first of the night on a nice feed from Isaac Bester to put the home team again up by one. The lead was short lived however as the Ice Dogs countered with two quick goals to close out the second leading the Storm by a score of 3-2.
Despite Pomroy’s two third period goals to round out her hat trick, the first on an unassisted breakaway and the second assisted by Francesca Alpajaro and Ryan Perry, the final frame didn’t go the Storm’s way. The Ice Dogs rallied for a four goal outburst that the valiant Storm team could not recover from, falling 7-4 in the end.
It was an exciting game from start to finish and hopefully is a sign of the quality of hockey to come in the remaining playoff games.
The Storm Novice LL3’s face their next challenge on Wednesday February 23 when they’ll host cross town rivals Novice LL2 for the second game in the playoff round robin.