By Tanya Coubrough
If you had told Anderson Appliances that they were going to be playing in a playoff game back in September you might have heard comments like "they are kind of like the police academy" and "they remind us of the bad news bears" or one from one of the coaches who came into the dressing room at one point to ask the kids to "hold up your right hand" and almost half of them held up their lefts. So for Anderson Appliances who had won a total of 1 game before January to be playing in a playoff game most people would never believe you.
But in this case these kids, coaches and parents never stopped believing in themselves or each other. The kids on this team are a close knit bunch who whenever a goal went in no one ever said that it was the goalies fault, if one of them missed a breakaway chance it was never oh he/she should have gotten that it was always we will get it next time. These kids have made everyone of the coaches and their parents proud.
So on this night Anderson Appliances traveled to Tillsonburg to meet for a playoff game, with what started as an energetic game and keeping Tillsonburg out of Anderson Appliances net quickly fell apart as the home team opened the scoring with a wrap around goal and another one to follow quickly.Nolan Costa dug deep in the defensive end to get the puck up the boards to Mark Tucker who then carried it the length of the ice while Costa went to the net, speedy Mark Tucker centered the puck beautifully and Costa attempted the one time only to be spoiled by the post again they kept up their gritty play though and Nolan Costa earned a hardworking goal with help from Mark Tucker and David Timleck.
At the end of the period the score was 2-1. But soon into the second period Camden McDougall had a breakaway but in the end result the post was the Tillsonburg keepers best friend on more than one occasion tonight. With a speedy forward line of Annilese Racicot, Adam Csucs and alternating Nathan Peacock and Justin Thorne who always knows where to place himself in front of the net they had multiple chances, but again the post would not let anything by it as each shot seemed to ricochet of the posts. Paul Shearer played an excellent game showing he has turned into one the best two way players of the team knowing when to play forward and then coming back to defence to cover while offensive defenceman Camden McDougall snuck away on yet another breakaway this time burying the puck in the Tillsonburg net. Goalie Brodi Carbaugh made some excellent saves on this night and had some unfortunate goals that were scored on him he did not fail his fans though and made yet again another tremendous glove save. Defenceman Joey Schonberger and Leland Loranger made some key poke checks to keep Tillsonburg from getting another breakaway and work well as a defensive pair. At the end of the second Ingersoll Anderson Appliances were down 5-2. But would they give up know never and neither did their coaches and their fans knew not to count them out they knew in the end Anderson Appliances has a lot of heart and determination and can really come together as a team. Starting out the third period there was excitement in the air as defenceman Camden McDougall and Joey Schonberger held the shots to a minimum while trying to kill off a penalty from Mark Tucker Anderson Appliances pulled their goaltender and with some hard work Joey Schonberger fed the puck up to Nolan Costa who then used the boards to bang it up to Camden McDougall who took another breakaway and this time managed to Capitalize on it sending the bench and the fans into a frenzy. With the goalie still out and the puck deep into the Tillsonburg zone Adam Csucs took a shot on net then Camden McDougall pinching in from defence took another shot but the it was finally put away by Paul Shearer who had his second goal in as many games.
At this point the game is 6-5 for Tillsonburg everyone is on the edge of their seats the coaches are sweating, the parents are sweating, and the kids are smiling Anderson Appliances has come back. But time has run out...or WAIT?!? Did it really. There is some confusing the convenor comes out and says to add 5:00 more minutes!! The crowd goes wild. With Brodi Carbaugh back in net Anderson Appliances got caught up to far in Tillsonburg's end leaving them with a 3 on none and banging in the rebound. Anderson Appliances again pulls the goalie but this time were unable to capitalize while Tillsonburg to three empty net goals. In the end the final score was 9-6 in an amazing game played.
Anderson appliances parents should be proud of their children and the kids should be proud of themselves and each other and the coaches are proud of how far this team has come.
Goals: Nolan Costa, Paul Shearer, Adam Csucs and Camden McDougall (3)
Assists: Mark Tucker, David Timleck, Leland Loranger, Joey Schonberger, Nathan Peacock, Annilese Racicot, Justin Thorne