Sutton Huron Shores Realty Storm Split Weekend Games, News, Novice LL 2, U8 & U9 (OMHA), 2013-2014 (Saugeen Shores Minor Hockey)

The Sutton Huron Shores Realty Storm played two games over the weekend and came away with one win and one loss.  Both games were close to the end and resulted in identical 6-4 scores.

On Saturday January 4^th the Storm hosted Shallow Lake #1 in Southampton.  These two teams played to a 1-1 tie earlier this season in a tightly contested affair.  However on this day both teams were in an offensive mood after the Christmas break and the game produced 10 goals. 

The Sutton Realty Storm picked up where it had left off before the break and opened the game with a goal when Jason Legge potted one to give the home side a 1-0 lead.  However that lead wouldn’t last long as the Lakers fought back with some good hockey of their own and scored three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead.  Just before the period ended Chad Lawerence responded for the Storm and the first ended with the Lakers in front 3-2.

The second provided more great action as Shallow Lake scored early to restore their two goal lead.  The score remained this way until late in the second when Jason Legge made a great pass from the half wall to a wide open Hunter Palinksy in the slot, who did his best Alexander Ovechkin impression and ripped a one-timer into the net for the goal of the game.  This goal would give the Sutton Realty Storm some momentum and confidence it could come back as it headed into the third trailing by a goal. 

Early in the third period Jason Legge picked up a nice goal to even the score at 4.  It would stay this way until under 3 minutes to play when Chad Lawerence scored a big goal to give the Storm a 5-4 lead.  But Lawerence wasn’t done there; with under a minute to play he and teammate Jason Legge designed a face-off play during a stoppage in play.  On the ensuing face-off the play worked to perfection and resulted in Legge taking a face-off win from Lawerence and burying a wrist shot to pick up his hat trick goal and provide the insurance marker in a 6-4 Sutton Realty Storm win.

Malachi McKinnon played goal and did well in keeping the Lakers off the scoreboard in the second half of the game. He had help from his defense which was led by Sean Moorehead and Logan Bursey who both played strong defensive games and worked hard at keeping the Lakers away from their net.  The win improved the Storm’s season and league record to 11-1-2.

The following morning the Sutton Realty Storm travelled to Kincardine to play an exhibition game against the Kinucks.  This game proved to be just as exciting and wide open as the one the day before. 

On the game’s first shift the Storm had the puck inside the Kinucks zone for over a minute, but it was the Kinucks who ended the shift with a breakaway goal to take an early 1-0 lead.  The lead only lasted 30 seconds though, as the next shift saw some hard work in the corner by Brodie Palinsky result in a goal as he put a shot in off a Kincardine defender.  Jason Legge picked up an assist on the goal.  The period would slow down some after the action-packed opening minutes, but the Kinucks would manage to score twice more and end the period with a 3-1 lead.

In the second period the Kinucks came out strong and picked up another goal to take a 4-1 lead.  The Sutton Realty Storm continued to work hard despite the deficit and worked their way back in the game.  The Storm got to within two when Hunter Palinksy banged in a rebound goal off a Chad Lawerence shot.  The Storm would score again shortly after as Jack Baerg worked hard to secure a loose puck and followed that by making a great pass through traffic to Cameron Cumming.  Cameron wasted no time and fired in a nice one-timer to bring the Storm back within one. 

In the third the teams gave the fans lots of excitement with fast back and forth action.  The Kinucks would score first and restore their two goal lead.  However the Sutton Realty Storm again would not go away without a fight.  Their persistent efforts paid off with about 2 minutes remaining as Hunter Palinsky would score his second goal of the game and bring the Storm again within one goal.  However the comeback was not to be as the Kinucks scored a late breakaway goal and would end the game 6-4 victors.

The coaching staff was very pleased with the play of both Jack Baerg and Brodie Palinsky on the weekend.  Jack skated well all weekend and played his best hockey of the year.  Brodie used his hard forechecking to create many turnovers and give the Storm extra opportunities to score. 

The loss ends the Storm undefeated streak at 13 games.  The streak saw the Storm go the entire months of November and December without a loss and post an 11-0-2 record over the streak.