The R.McNiven & Sons Insurance Brokers Inc. Atoms took to the ice Thursday night at home for game one action of there OMHA preliminary round against the Aylmer Flames.
The Flames came ready to play, and from the drop of the puck much of the action was in the Express end during the first period of play. The legs of the Express were not going and little if any intensity could be seen. Aylmer got on the board first at the 7:35 mark with a nifty move by the ‘flaming’ forward, splitting the D, and whistling a shot upstairs underneath the crossbar. The Flames continued to press throughout the period, and any momentum that Ingersoll could gain was immediately taken away by the Flames breaking up passes and simply winning the battles along the boards. Aylmer tallied with a questionable goal with 1:13 left in the period. The Express were in a position they did not want to be in, down 2-0 after one period.
The second period was a little better for the Express, and they slowly started to play to there potential. Noah Robinson, the Ingersoll keeper, did a great job in net to keep the team within striking distance, playing his steady self, not showing any effects of the team being down by two goals. A scoreless second period still left the Express down, but not out.
The Express finally got on the board early in the 3rd period when a ‘tic-tac-toe’ blast from the point by Alex Foster, was tipped by Riley Ellis to Ethan Stevens who deflected the rubber past the Aylmer netminder. Ingersoll was on the board, and this provided the ‘kick’ the team needed to get there wheels going. A stronger forecheck was evident, and if not for some good play by the Aylmer keeper, Ingersoll should have hit the twine a few more times. The team still charging, and looking for that elusive tying goal were winning the battles they lost in the first. A resulting puck squirted out to defenseman Nathan Gould, who delivered a howitzer to the net. Sommer Lednicky charging picked up a juicy rebound, wristing it past the Flames keeper tying it with 3:35 left in the game.
As time wound down, it looked like the teams were heading to sudden death overtime, but the Express gave one last push getting the puck out of there zone to a determined Lednicky, who rushed down the right side past the defender, cutting to the net, and slipping it past the Flames tender. A fired up Express team, took the lead 3-2 with 14.2 seconds left on the clock! The team killed the time remaining, and were rewarded with there best comeback win this season. The bells and whistles that the Flames supporters brought could no longer be heard.....
Game 2 action heads back to Aylmer Friday, January 14th. Full steam ahead guys and gal!