The Verspeeten Cartage Peewee Local League Express
clinched second place in the B Pool of the Intertown Local League playoffs with
3 wins this week. Coming off a busy
weekend which saw the boys play 5 games in 3 days in a tournament, the Express
headed right back on the ice Monday and Tuesday to host the Tillsonburg
Tornadoes #2 team.
In the first of the 2 back to back games, the boys looked a little tired after the long weekend but managed to get a 3-2 win. Emmitt Robinson opened the scoring midway through the first on an unassisted effort. Tillsonburg evened the score late in the second to send the game to the third tied at 1. Early in the third Ingersoll took the lead as Cameron White scored assisted by Alex Georgiou. Tillsonburg battled hard again leveling the score with just under 2 minutes to play, but Robinson immediately replied assisted by White and Keagan Clifford to give the Express the 3-2 win.
In the second meeting in as many days, the Express looked like they had regained their legs as they skated much better. White opened the scoring in the first period, assisted by Cole Brownscombe and Aaron Lahey. Clifford then scored his first of 3 on the night, assisted by Robinson and Parker Huitema. After one period the score was 2-0 for the home team. That was all the scoring until the third when Clifford potted his second assisted by Jacob MacArthur and completed the hat trick with help from Huitema and Robinson. The final score was 4-0 in favour of the Verspeeten Express.
Sunday, the boys hosted Simcoe with second place in the playoffs secured. The Express took a 1-0 lead in the first as Robinson completed a nice 3-way passing play with Georgiou and White by deking to his backhand and finding the open net. Simcoe replied quickly to even the score after the first period. Ingersoll again surged into the lead with a power play goal started by Ethan Barrett who fed Clifford along the boards who in turn found Robinson in front before he set up Huitema at the side of the net. After 2 periods the home Express led 2-1. In the third period Ingersoll’s passing continued to frustrate Simcoe. Georgiou finished off a goal line pass from Robinson after initiating the give and go play. Also drawing an assist on the play was White. Standing tall in the net and recording his sixth shutout of the season was Hayden White.
The Verspeeten Cartage Express will travel to Delhi to face the unbeaten Rockets Sunday before facing the Langton Leafs in the B pool semi-final in Ingersoll.