Jan 26, 2015 | jrupert | 1119 views
Peewee Express advance to OMHA round 2
The Ponting Financial Group Ingersoll Express Peewee Rep team finished out their first round of OMHA playoffs against the Paris Wolfpack with a pair of wins over the weekend.
On Friday, January 23rd, Ingersoll travelled to the Brant Rec Centre to face the Wolfpack, an arena which has shown the team it's share of troubles in the past. The game started off great, with Symon Hutcheson finding the back of the net with a great shot, and giving Ingersoll the 1-0 lead, which they held throughout the first period and into the second. Ingersoll seemed to have found an answer to playing on the big ice in Paris, and held the 1-0 lead through a good portion of the second period, before Paris was able to solve Ingersoll goalie Logan White and tie the game up.
The teams went into the third period knotted at 1-1, with Ingersoll realizing that they'd have to bear down to regain the lead and leave Paris with a 2 games to none stranglehold. However, Ingersoll's troubles at the Rec Centre reared their ugly head, and with less than 5 minutes to go, Paris had taken a 3-1 lead, and looked to have the game in control. But it was time to cue the comeback. First of all Nathan Graham got a point shot through traffic that found the back of the net, and then Parker Hodgson banged home a hard working goal, and with 2:20 to go the team had tied the game back up at 3-3. Just under 2:00 mins to go Ingersoll got saddled with a penalty, and had to finish the period short handed. After killing off the penalty and into overtime, Ingersoll got back to their game. Again, it was the Ingersoll defence who came to the rescue, and early into the overtime period a shot from the point by Keegan Purdy made it's way to the back of the net, and Ingeroll escaped with the 4-3 overtime win.
The teams returned to Ingersoll on Sunday night to try and finish off the series. After a scoreless first period, Daytn Racicot was able to beat the Paris goaltender on a nice shot from the high slot, giving Ingersoll the first lead of the game. The Express were dominant throughout the game, keeping the puck deep in the Paris end and ensuring that goaltender White was protected and could see the shots well when Paris made their way into the Ingersoll zone. Midway through the third period Brennan Rupert added some insurance for Ingersoll on a shot deep in the Paris zone into a wide empty net, going up 2-0. Paris pulled their goalie late in the period to try to get themselves back into the game, and Ingersoll also ended up with a penalty, giving Paris the 6 on 4 advantage. It didn't pay off though as Ingersoll was then able to ice the puck, and when the final buzzer sounded Ingersoll had won the game 2-0, and finished off the series 3 games to 0.
Ingersoll next faces Tillsonburg on Thursday, January 29 at 8:15 in Southern Counties playoff action. Ingersoll will face the Simcoe Warriors in OMHA round 2, with the schedule still being worked out.