Thursday night at the Ingersoll District Memorial Centre, the
Dorchester Dragons demonstrated to Carmeuse Lime Ltd the level of play that has
allowed the team to steadily move into second place behind Carmeuse’s first
place in Shamrock Minor Midget/Midget AE standings. The first period of the game supplied some
very entertaining two-way hockey. Each
team received a powerplay opportunity; both were unsuccessful. It looked that the period may end at a tie,
but at, 4:14, the Dragons would make the score 1-0 after capitalizing on
Carmeuse’s inability to clear the puck.
It would be the last Dorchester goal of the night.
Carmeuse got their second powerplay opportunity of the game when Dorchester was called for interference at 13:19 of the second period. Carmeuse uncharacteristically turned the puck over in the Dorchester end and soon Carmeuse net-minder, #30 Ryan Calder, was capably denying Dorchester’s shorthanded breakaway bid. Carmeuse was quick to resume control of the puck to capitalize on the powerplay opportunity, as #7 Tyler Arts, assisted by #6 Eric Savoie and #15 Dawson Kays (C), scored at 
11:32. With each team full strength, #10 Aaron Lonsberry (A), assisted by #2 Jacob Branderhorst and Arts, put Carmeuse in the lead at 9:41. This goal seemed to change Dorchester’s focus and level of play, giving the Carmeuse powerplay three more opportunities in the period. At 7:12, just ten seconds into the next opportunity, #14 Ben Jentz, assisted by #17 Bram O’Connor and #11 Tanner Gedies, put Carmeuse up two goals. At 3:34 one Dragon opened the penalty box door to welcome another Dragon who received four minutes for head contact. At 2:57, Kays, assisted by Arts and #20 Tucker Forbes, made the score 4-1 on the five on three opportunity. With only five seconds remaining in the first two minutes of the head contact penalty, Savoie, assisted by Arts and Kays, continued the powerplay success.
As the teams lined up at centre ice to start the third period the scoreboard read 5-1 in favour of Carmeuse and one Dragon remained in the penalty box to finish the second two minutes of the four minute head contact penalty. The Dragon would soon be granted early release. The puck was deep in the Carmeuse end when defenseman, #19 Jack VanEgdom, passed it to Savoie who was ready and waiting in the neutral zone. A few strides and one pass later, the puck was on the stick of Arts who found a way around the Dorchester net-minder at 12:41. A few minutes later, Carmeuse defense partners, #9 Ryan Cooper and #16 Brock Swain forged up the ice to pay a visit to the Dorchester net-minder. Though their bid was denied, it was nice to experience the orchestration on ice as the Carmeuse forwards fell back to cover defense. Both teams were full strength when Arts, assisted by Savoie and Kays, made the score 7-1. This trio would change things up a bit; next it was Kays, assisted by Savoie and Arts, who scored a powerplay goal, the final goal of the game at 6:00 of the third period. At 5:12, Calder denied the second Dorchester breakaway attempt and the game would end 8-1.
This Carmeuse powerplay is certainly proving to be successful. On this night it was successful six out of eleven opportunities.
Carmeuse will play next as they host the St Mary’s Rock at the Ingersoll District Memorial Centre, Thursday, December 17 at 9:30 PM.