It was Halloween eve and the Tremblett’s YIG Ingersoll Atom AE Express had an appetite….an appetite to head down Highway 19 to take on the Tillsonburg Tornadoes.
Inspired by watching their fellow Express Pee wee team on the ice before them putting yet another stellar victory in their pocket , the boys took the ice to try and complete the Ingersoll sweep.
May be both Teams were energized at the thought they were less than 24 hours from loading up on sugar as the moment the puck dropped they were off to the races in some torrid end to end action keeping the fans in the stands on the edge of their seats and giving us a Halloween treat of our own.
The Express struck first with Tanner “The Tanman” Belore making a strong move through the slot and ripping a shot and Jayden “The Hammer” Strome streaking towards the net to make no mistake with the rebound to make it 1-0.
Tillsonburg, with a power play opportunity didn’t waste anytime levelling up the score at 1.
The 2nd period saw no slow down in the pace and both teams skating hard to get the next goal when a passing clinic kicked in with the Express striking with 2 quick goals with Cole McNeil springing Dylan “Dill pickle” Lale in alone twice in less than 1 minute and jumping out to a 3-1 lead.
The 3rd frame had Tillsonburg come storming back to make it a 1 goal game with some nice play of their own and setting us up for a finish that would leave everyone bracing themselves.
As the game’s final minutes wound down, shot after shot was unleashed at both ends and both goalies standing tall. Captain Chris Hardeman stood on his head kicking out 18 saves and the Express forwards and defence gave everything they had to handle the pressure that the Tornadoes delivered not giving up and giving everything they had to tie the game until the final buzzer.
The Ingersoll Express held on to a thrilling and hard fought victory fending off a great Tillsonburg team 3-2 in what was the most exciting game of the year…. What a game by both teams!!!! Final shot count was 30 to 20 in favour of the Tornadoes.
“The five S’s of sports training are stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit, but the greatest of these is “SPIRIT”. “ - Ken Doherty
Tonight, our YIG Tremblett’s Ingersoll Atom AE Express showed that spirit!!!!
Next up: Caledonia on Tuesday at 7:00pm at our Madhouse on Mutual where we hope to level up the season series. “LETS GO EXPRESS”
Stuart Ashman