Friday morning the players and fans of Louie’s Pizza and
Pasta Bantam Express learned that Saturday night’s game against the Tavistock
Titans would be rescheduled due to the semi-final O.M.H.A. Play Down game between
the Glenda Ponsonby Ingersoll/Oxford Realty Express Peewee Rep team (
Team Home Page) and the visiting
Petrolia Oilers at the Ingersoll District Memorial Centre. It would be a
welcome and well deserved rest for the players of Louie’s Pizza and Pasta, who
have played three Southern Counties playoff games in five days; all of them
wins.
On Saturday, February 22, Louie’s hosted the Caledonia Thunder. On this night it would be #6 Eric Savoie who, with a little help from #17 Ryan Cooper, would start the evening’s scoring. It would be the only goal of the first period.
Savoie sparked the Louie’s offense and the current surged into the second period, resulting in four Louie’s goals. #10 Aaron Lonsberry and #5 Riley Jayne lent their offensive services to #2 Colin Weller- Burgess who, at 12:39, made the score 2-1. It looked this this would end the second period scoring; that is until Lonsberry would once again lend his offensive services to Riley Jayne, who, at 1:51, put another point on the board for Louie’s. At 1:25, Caledonia would answer with one of their own. Caledonia’s celebration had barely ended when Louie’s #7 Tyler Arts would lend his services to #15 Tyler Goyette who deposited the puck in the Caledonia net.
The score remained 4-1 in favour of Louie’s until 10:15 of the third period, when Caledonia claimed another one for their cause. With the score now 4-2, the Thunder would pay a few unsuccessful visits to Louie’s net-minder, #30 Ryan Calder. At 2:41, Savoie would assist Cooper in getting the final goal of the game. Louie’s would claim another playoff win.
Three nights later, Louie’s net-minder #1 Noah Robinson made his way to the net at the rink of the Norwich Community Centre where he and his team would face-off against the Norwich Knighthawks.
The dynamic duo of Savoie and Cooper joined forces to start Louie’s offensive front on this night. Savoie would earn himself an assist as Cooper expertly manoeuvered the puck around the Norwich net-minder at 1:05. The goal was barely posted on the scoreboard as Cooper scored a solo shot with .20 left on the clock.
Louie’s would remain focused on the game of hockey, playing a well-orchestrated two-way game; Norwich would not. Even with Norwich spending much time in the penalty box, the score would remain 2-0 until 1:35 of the second period when #9 Nick Likins, with some offensive help from #8 Brady Shapton, skillfully put the puck behind the Norwich net-minder.
In the third period, Cooper would earn the hat trick at 13:14, with help from #11 Kyle Rachar. Norwich would answer this goal at 4:47. As the game ended, Louie’s claimed the 4-1 win.
On Wednesday, February 26, Louie’s Pizza and Pasta traveled to Simcoe’s Talbot Gardens where they skated onto the ice undefeated during playoffs. There would be only one goal scored in this game. That one goal would be scored at 9:14 of the third period after Louie’s #10 Aaron Lonsberry put the puck on the stick of #2 Colin Weller-Burgess who found an opening in the Simcoe net. Louie’s would protect the lead, helping their net-minder, #30 Ryan Calder, earn the shut-out.
Louie’s will try to claim their next playoff win Sunday at 4:15 in Six Nations.