Saugeen Storm Atom LL#1, Allan’s Fireside Grill, travelled
to Wiarton to face the Bruce Peninsula Northstars#1 Friday night in great
matchup. It was a fairly late game but
it was no problem for the fans to stay awake and cheer on their favourite
players as the Storm came out of the gate flying.
Right off the opening faceoff the Storm took to the Northstars end and went to work battling and holding the play down there with good pressure on the opposition. As the lines rolled through it was Andy and Smiley going to work with a few shots on net, passing out front and then it happened …. Smiley netted his first of the season with Andy earning the assist. Now the bench was pumped and everyone was cheering for Smiley as he has really been working hard all season and going to the net hard everytime looking for his first goal and now he had it. As play went on the Storm continued to skate hard get on the Northstars and battle for those pucks and move it amongst their teammates. Things were looking great for the Storm and then it got better as Riley netted a beauty to put his team up 2-0 with two and half minutes left in the period. This seemed to wake the Northstars up a bit as they got one back 8 seconds later. The Storm held them off until the end of the period with a lead of 2-1.
Right off the opening faceoff in the second, Riley broke free and went to the net hard on a break but could not beat the Northstars goalie, then Jack who was following up by skating hard to the net, found the rebound and lifted it over the goalie into the mesh putting the Storm up 3-1 with less than 10 seconds into the second period. This quick start got the team going again and the Storm got back to work battling and skating hard. The defense where playing huge on the ice with Ian, Josh, Andrew, Zac, Talan and Wes playing hug by holding the blueline moving the puck up ice to their teammates and jumping into the play when they saw a chance. In fact it was the hard work of the D that set up a great passing play from Nick to Peter then to Riley for his second goal of the game, Riley with the goal and Peter and Nick the assists. Big save Benny was sharp when he had to be closing the door the rest of the period but the great work by the wingers, Andy, Sabra, Smiley, Hunter, Ismail, Charlie, Peter and Jack with their great efforts on the backcheck and the positioning to move the puck out of our zone along with the pressure /chances in the Northstars zone was really nice work. Nick and Riley controlled the play with their faceoff wins, and working hard in every area of the ice.
Early into the third with just over two minutes played the Northstars strike again and the score is now 4-2. This did not break the spirits of the storm as Big save Benny made a few more nice stops and the team went right back to work battling and moving the puck up ice with some great passing. Just under the 8 minute mark Wes saw some open ice and took it as he went in all alone and buried a beauty goal unassisted to put the Storm up 5-2. Then again with just over 2 minutes left in the game Wes moved the puck out of our zone to Riley who skated the length and fired one into the top of the net earning him the Hat Trick goal and Wes the assist, Coach Richard also threw his hat on the ice in celebration. Things were looking great for the Storm and then with only 45 seconds left the Northstars strike back as they never did give up at any point of the game and the final was a 6-3 victory for the Storm.
Great game team as we worked hard and it all paid off again. The Digger Award was handed off to Riley as he was all over the ice tonight working his butt off and it showed on the score sheet, congrats Riley! I know you have been waiting to be awarded the Digger and you deserved it tonight. Honorable mention to Peter, who was also all over the ice, had a few great chances as well and was very agreesive on the puck as well, great game Peter!!
Next game – Sunday Jan 25th vs Storm#2, 11:30am in Southampton