Two goals late in the first period sixteen seconds apart propelled
The Ingersoll Carmeuse Lime Express Juvenile rep team to a 4-1 victory in game
one of the first round OHMA play down series against the Tavistock Titans.
Coming off two consecutive losses for the first time this year, Ingersoll was looking to get off to a quick start in game one of their opening round OMHA series against the Tavistock Titans. That fast start almost happened as the Express would ring a shot of the Tavistock crossbar about thirty seconds into the game. From there on, both teams would trade chances, but were unable to score until late in the first period when with 2:00 left, Caleb Schaap would send a pass to defenceman Ethan Hurst who then fed a cross ice pass to defence partner Colin Weller-Burgess who would fire a low wrist shot just off the ice that beat a screened Tavistock goalie on the blocker side to give Ingersoll a 1-0 lead. Just 16 seconds later, Caleb Schaap and Kirk Meek would skate into the Tavistock end and would find Qwertay Dei alone at the side of the Titans net and would fire a shot high over the glove into the net to put the Express up 2-0 which was the score at the end of the first period.
The second period would see the teams trade many good scoring chances but both goaltenders would stand tall and keep the score at 2-0 after two periods of play.
A bad line change by the Express early in the third period would allow the Titan’s Cole Bender to skate in all alone against Express goalie Ryan Calder, who had stopped two breakaways earlier in the game, but in this situation Calder would get a piece of Bender’s shot but the puck would just squeeze through his equipment into the net to make the score 2-1 with 13:48 left in the third period. It was now nail biting time for both team’s fans. With 8:59 left, Ingersoll would go to the power play. With 38 seconds remaining in the man advantage, Kirk Meek would find Ethan Hurst alone at the right point who would skate in to the top of the faceoff circle and unload a high shot that the Tavistock goalie would make the save on but Ryan Cooper was in the right spot in front of the net to put the rebound into the gaping net to give Ingersoll a 3-1 lead. With 5:30 left in the third period, Tavistock would go to the power play. While Ingersoll was shorthanded, defenceman Christian Johnson would show some exceptional penalty killing skills by keeping possession of the puck along the boards behind the Express net while killing valuable time on the Titan’s power play. Ingersoll would kill off this penalty and then would go to a power play of their own late in the third where Ryan Cooper and Tyler Goyette would assist on Derek Johnson’s power play goal on a hard shot to the glove side from the right faceoff circle with 2:16 left in the third period. There would be no more scoring as the Express took game one of the six point series by a 4-1 score.
If game one is any indication, this is shaping up to be an entertaining series as both teams possess a lot of skill and speed to go along with solid goaltending. Game two of the series goes Saturday Feb 2 in Ingersoll at 8:30 pm. The teams are then be back in Tavistock next Sunday at 1:20 pm.