Jan 11, 2016 | Evan Martin | 726 views
First Playoff Game
January 11, 2016 marked Allan's Fireside Atom AE's first playoff game. What a barn burner!
On a blustery night in Bruce County, Allan's Fireside Atom AE team took to the road for their first playoff game against the AEMHA Ice Dogs in Tara. From the first drop of the puck, this was going to be good. A quick goal put the Dogs ahead at 9:32, but our team didn't lay down. Keeping good pressure on the opposing team we fought hard, and won some great battles, put some pucks on net, but a hot AEMHA goalie turned everything aside. In our end the D fought hard, and when the Dogs got through Lettau stood up to the task and settled down to some great tending. At the first intermission the score was 1-0 for the home team.
The second saw some more great fighting for the pucks, along the boards and in the corners. It was apparent that the home team wasn't giving us much to go with, as they were fighting as hard as we were. However at 4:15 Nason fed a sweet pass to Martin on the line, who made no mistake with a cannon from the point to tie this game at 1. The game kept going back and forth, with the Storm battling hard along the boards and in the corners. When the horn blew for the end of the second, this game was knotted at 1.
after a short chat with the coaches, a Rich and Nugget pep talk, these kids came out hard in the third. Back and forth battles had fans from both teams looking for the defibrillator, if you sitting, you were on the edge of your seat, if you were standing, you were pacing. A hard fought 9 1/2 minutes in the third, back and forth, shots on net, breakaways turned aside, I think I even saw Lettau actually head but a puck...but all tension comes to an end, and at 5:37 the Dogs forward squeaked a shot by Lettau to take a 2-1 lead. Never shaken, the Storm kept rolling, digging in and really fighting hard all over the ice. Unfortunately, the Dogs slipped another one by at 3:47, and put us in the hole 3-1. The kids never seem to get down and never fall behind in spirit, and always, no matter what the odds are, stick together. This was needed tonight, because just 32 seconds after that last one the Dogs potted a quick one to open up a 4-1 lead with 3:15 seconds left in the game. Make no bones about it, the Storm never lays down, and just 15 seconds after going down 3 goals, Nason crashed the net and pounded one past the tender to re-energize the team. Some great hockey was played in the last 3 minutes, I personally couldn't stand still. With a lot of pressure in the offensive end, and some stand up defensive play in our own end, wow...talk about tense. With a mere 1:38 to play, Noe went hard to the net and was rewarded with a HUGE goal, fighting off defenders to crash one home. With the net empty and the extra attacker on, the kids played some hard D to keep the "Dogs at bay" and got a few shots on net, but when the final horn blew (and the defib was back in its case) we ended up one down.
This was our first playoff game as a team, and we handled it well. This team never ceases to amaze, the way these kids pull together, up or down, great game kids, and great playing all season long. Hold your heads high!
Next game, Tuesday, January 12, 2016 in Southampton.