Dec 03, 2019 | Rich McNeil | 203 views
Express Extinguish the Flames - Game 15
It seemed like forever ago that the Peewee A/E's hit the ice, after Sunday's ice storm forced the cancellation of a league game vs Plattsville. This was our tune up game before Silverstick this weekend, ironically in Ayr. The buzz around the arena was forward Alex Stratton was suiting up for the hometown Express after seven weeks away due to a broken toe. It was great to have Alex back on the ice and getting some game action before the weekend.
With Tanner Belore home sick, Ben Baker got the job of backstopping our boys tonight. Even though these two teams are at the opposite end of the standings, the rivalry between Ayr and Ingersoll is always enjoyable to be a part of. With the drop of the puck, Ingersoll went right to work marching into the Ayr's zone and created a great scoring test 20 seconds in. The towering goalie for Ayr blocked a lot of real estate, so it was becoming evident that in order to get some rubber behind him, we were going to have to get him moving. Even though our boys dominated the period, the game remained scoreless.
In the second, the teams exchanged power play opportunities, but either squad could capitalize. Finally after some silky moves by defender Brody Huitema to gain the zone, his shot handcuffed the Flames net minder, and an opportunistic Tyler Fleming pounced on the loose puck and buried it in the net to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Ayr pushed hard for the equalizer, and had a glorious chance with a breakaway, but steady Baker waited the forward out and kept them off the scoreboard. The Express were up by one headed to the third.
After Cole McNeil took a holding the stick penalty, Ayr would tie the game on the power play, after a uncharacteristic giveaway our zone. Bound and determined to not let this game end this way, the boys went to work. Great passing by our boys created chance after chance, but we just could not buy a goal. With 3:33 left, Ethan Kish was able to send away Eli North, and with his trademark dipsy doodle puck handling skills, he got the Ayr goaltender moving one way, while lauching a wrist shot, on the blocker side, to score, and get the madhouse on mutual rocking once again. Not about to stop playing the way they always do, we pushed again, and after an Ayr defender knocked Eli into the goaltender, he started throwing several punches at a defenseless North, and was immediately ejected and a major penalty assessed, giving the Express a man advantage for the duration of the period. With Ayr now in a foul mood, and their fans ready to wreak havoc on the referees, the manager received a GM20 for jumping on the ice at the end of the game, just unable to let go of his frustration. Even though the Flames were quite exuberant that their goalie was kicked out of the game, our boys the calm, cool, collective bunch had the last laugh as we earned a 2-1 victory. Great job boys!! And best of luck this weekend.