The R.McNiven & Sons Insurance Atom Reps enjoying a come from behind victory over the Aylmer Flames 3-2 in Game 1 of preliminary series OMHA action Thursday night, went back to the ice Friday, January 14th for Game 2 down in Aylmer
The Express came out flying in the first period and quieted the noisy crowd right away dominating much of the play. Ethan Stevens at the 5:12 mark of the first started the Express out picking the puck up along the left side boards, cutting to the slot and shooting a wrister upstairs past the Aylmer netminder. Jacob Branderhorst picked up a helper on the play. 1-0 Express. Ingersoll ran into a bit of penalty trouble at the end of the first giving Aylmer a 5 on 3 advantage. A strong penalty kill led to a shorthanded breakaway by Eric Savoie who ended up being tripped up and awarded a penalty shot. Savoie with a little shake and bake was good on his shot giving the Express a 2-0 lead after one period of play. The Express continued to attack with a strong forecheck going into the second period and this resulted in Ingersoll’s third goal by Branderhorst who was waiting to ‘pick up the trash’ in front of the net as a result of an Adam Csucs shot on net. Stevens also picked up an assist on the play. The rest of the game was very defensive on both ends of the ice with no scoring in the third. Noah Robinson put in a strong performance in net for the Express giving the team a shutout and more importantly a 2 games to none lead in the series.
Game 3 action on Sunday, January 16th, down in Aylmer started out with the Flames pressing very hard in the first 3 minutes. This was to be expected, especially being down 2 games in the series. Ingersoll managed to weather the initial storm and scored at the 7:15 mark, when Keegan Clark scored from the hash marks past a sprawling Aylmer goalie. Savoie and Clayton Hammond got assists on the play. This line proved to be very good on this night. A nice setup from Clark to Hammond at the 3:17 mark gave the Express a 2-0 lead. The Express having one in the penalty box scored another shorthanded goal at the 2:26 mark when a clearing puck was picked up by Justin Holmes who broke away and managed to slide it past the Aylmer keeper. 3-0 Express. Aylmer finally finished the period with a power play goal giving them some new life for the second.
In the second period, Aylmer got on the board again taking advantage of a small defensive breakdown which lead to a breakaway and a score by one of there flashy forwards. It was now 3-2, and Aylmer was making a game of it. The best way to answer is to score right back, and the very next shift, Clark scored his second of the game giving the Express a two goal spread once again. Hammond got another helper on the play. A penalty to Aylmer led to Savoie scoring an unassisted power play goal at the 2:17 mark. 40 seconds later, Savoie would score again from Hammond who enjoyed having 4 points on this night. The period ended with the Express ahead 6-2.
The third period came and went as the Express went into shutdown mode playing the trap, frustrating the Aylmer forwards. Aylmer managed to score one more and Ingersoll tallied back in the last few seconds with a goal by Branderhorst. The Express finished the game winning 7-3, eliminating the Flames 3 games to none. Everyone on the team should be proud of there efforts so far, but remember there is a lot of hard work yet to be done! The R.McNiven & Sons Insurance Atom Reps will continue to the second round of OMHA’s against the winner of Glanbrook and Paris. Stay tuned by checking out Ingersoll Minor Hockey’s website at ingersollminorhockey.ca .