Mar 02, 2014 | jrupert | 844 views
Express split home and home to open OMHA Semifinals
The Glenda Ponsonby Ingersoll/Oxford Realty Ingersoll Express Peewee Rep team continued their quest for the OMHA B Division title on Friday night, facing off against the Petrolia Oilers in the first of their best of 5 game semifinal series. After a postponement due to the inclement weather on Thursday night, the team had to start on the road in Petrolia Friday night at 7:30 pm.
Game one started off great for Ingersoll, when just a minute and a half into the first period Ingersoll set the tone with a Alex Foster shot that was redirected perfectly by Parker Hodgson, fooling the Petrolia netminder and putting Ingersoll in the driver's seat. But just over two minutes later Petrolia got a breakaway and the player was able to beat goalie Jayden Purdy on a nifty shot, and just like that the teams were tied back up at 1-1. The second period started off much like the first, with Hodgson again being involved in a goal in the first two minutes of the period, this time with a nice feed to Keegan Clark, who found the back of the net and put Ingersoll back in front.
The game stayed like that through the rest of the second period and into the between period flood, but Petrolia came back out from the break on a mission and within a minute and a half were able to knot the score back at 2-2. But then on the ensuing play, Ingersoll crashed the net hard creating a loose puck situation, which Matt Berzins jumped on and gave Ingersoll back the one goal lead. As the teams continued to battle back and forth, it wasn't until the six minute mark of the period when Ingersoll was able to get a little bit of breathing room, with Daytn Racicot picking up a loose rebound off a Hodgson shot and putting it across the goal line, putting Ingersoll up by two. Petrolia continued to press, but the Ingersoll defence was able to keep the shots to the outside and out of harm's way, and the game finished with Ingersoll picking up an important win in Petrolia's barn.
The teams returned to Ingersoll on Saturday night to play out Thursday's postponed game 1. The teams played through the first and second period with each team having a few chances, but neither goalie willing to give an inch. Ingersoll's goalie Jayden Purdy made some excellent cross crease saves to keep his team in the game until they were able to pop one. However it was Petrolia that got on the board first this night late in the second period, scoring with 3 minutes to go. The period ended with Petrolia up 1-0, and the teams went to the dressing rooms with a chance for Ingersoll to regroup and get ready to come out flying for the third.
5 minutes into the third period, with a Petrolia player already in the box, Ingersoll's Parker Hodgson got dragged down on a breakaway in front of the Petrolia net and was awarded a penalty shot. Hodgson made no mistake on the penalty shot, going high stick side to even the score at 1-1. About 4 minutes later, Petrolia got their own breakaway, and with a play eerily similar to their opening goal Friday night - their speedy forward was able to go high stick side and find the back of the net, giving Petrolia back the lead. Ingersoll buckled down, not wanting to let the game get away, and just 21 seconds later Clayton Hammond put a nice wrist shot high on the Petrolia goalie, evening things back at 2-2. That's how the period would end, and it was on to overtime.
Both teams had their chances in the overtime, with each team having powerplay time in the period. But it was a misplayed shot late in the overtime period that found the back of the Ingersoll net, and Petrolia went home having evened the series at one game a piece. It was a heartbreaking loss for the Express team after how hard and how well they had played, from the goalie out, but the team has shown resiliency in the past this season, and will bounce back from this for the pivotal game three on Monday night in Ingersoll.
Let's come out and cheer on our boys as they take on Petrolia Monday night at 7:00 pm. Bring out your noise makers, wear black and red, and let's be the sixth man on the ice for the team and show Petrolia what home ice advantage means!!