The Ingersoll Carmeuse Lime Express Juvenile rep team rebounded
from a disappointing loss last Sunday with an impressive 7-2 victory over the Hespeler
Shamrocks on Saturday night.
Thanks to midget call ups, Clayton Hammond, Tanner Gray and Nathan Graham, the Express were able to start the game with 14 skaters compared to the 8 regular skaters (9 total skaters including backup goalie Ryan Calder) that played last Sunday in Hespeler. It was a one of the midget players that put Ingersoll on the scoreboard as Clayton Hammond would score just 23 seconds in the game with assists from Eric Savoie and Carter Franklin. The Express would added to their lead at the 5:36 mark of the first period as Colin Weller-Burgess and Mike Rotteveel would set up Qwertay Dei to give Ingersoll a 2-0 lead. Rotteveel would then score with 3:22 left in the first period with assists to Derek Johnson and Qwertay Dei to give the Express a 3-0 lead after the first period.
In the second period, the Hespeler would score their first goal of the game with 4:29 left in the period on a breakaway. The Shamrock would score again with 3:21 remaining as they were able to find a loose and put past Ingersoll goalie Ryan Calder after he had made the original save to make the score 3-2. However, Ingersoll would respond just 19 second later Christian Johnston would feed a pass to Qwertay Dei who would streak down the right side creating a 2 on 1 and fire a wrist shot to the Shamrocks goalie’s blocker in which he was unable to handle the rebound and Derek Johnson was able to slide the loose puck into the back of the net to give the Express a 4-2 lead. With 1:40 left in the second period, the game would take an ugly turn. After the whistle blew for a penalty being called against Ingersoll’s Carter Franklin, a Shamrock player would take a run at Carter and level him with a high cross check. Franklin’s teammates that were on the ice stepped up to the plate and challenged the Shamrock player to make sure he knew his actions were unacceptable. Once the dust had settled, Ingersoll’s Eric Savoie was assessed a fighting major and game misconduct and Christian Johnston was assessed a double minor penalty but both did the right thing for sticking up for a teammate. On the play, the Shamrock player that cross checked Franklin was assessed a 5 minute major penalty for cross checking and a game misconduct. The Shamrock player that was engaged with Savoie was also assessed a fighting major and game misconduct. It was very fortunate that Franklin was not seriously injured and was able to continue in the game.
In the third period the Express would add to their lead as Clayton Hammond and Carter Franklin would set up Colin Weller-Burgess who fired a wrist shot from the right point that beat a screened Hespeler goalie high on glove side for a power play goal. Qwertay Dei would score his second goal of the game using his exception skill to work is way to the middle of the ice on a great individual effort and fire a wrist shot to score an unassisted goal to give the Express a 6-2 lead. Ingersoll would round out the scoring with 4:18 left in the third as Carter Franklin and Nathan Graham would set up Ryan Cooper would skate down the left side and fire a laser wrist shot from the faceoff circle that perfectly picked the corner of the net on the Shamrocks goalie’s glove side just below the cross bar and inside the post.
Having 14 skaters made a big difference for the Express as evidenced by the strong third period the team played. The three midget players all played key roles in the victory.
Ingersoll will travel to Beverly on Sunday to take on the Bandits at 7:45. Beverly will pay a return visit to Ingersoll next Saturday night at 8:30.