Dec 06, 2019 | Rich McNeil | 123 views
A must win... Game 2 vs the Midland Centennials
After a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Mount Brydges this morning, the boys game to the arena on a mission to keep their hopes alive in this tournament. There was no sugar coating what needed to be done, and that was clearly to win. Coach Belore told the boys they needed to come prepared to play, or any hopes of another successful tournament weekend would be dashed. As history would have it, these boys have had a tendency to bounce back after a loss, so there was certainly a sense of optimism from the friends and family in attendance.
Starting in net after nursing a bad cold was Tanner Belore, and he was going to leaned upon heavily to lead us to victory. We had very little Intel on this squad, so we were not sure what to expect. They had been victorious, earlier in the day with a 6-4 victory over Ennismore, our opponents tomorrow.
In the first period, we exchanged momentum a few times as they were a fast squad with a north/south mentality to their game. The Centennials would visit the penalty box first with a minor for tripping three minutes in. Kian Brown took advantage of the extra available ice, made a strong move and put the Express on the board sliding a puck from a difficult angle past the Midland netminder. It was time to settle in for what was going to be a great game. After Jeremy Stiles got a hooking call, the Express had to tighten up defensively and really did a great job shutting the door, and letting Belore see the puck clearly when called upon to keep the rubber out of our net. With 2:18 left in the first, Owen Clarke pounced on a rebound after a nice passing play between Brown and Taylor Murray. Murray got off a nice shot, that probably should have gone in, but kudos to the Midland goaltender who made the initial stop, but had no chance to stop the rebound. At the end of one, the Express held a 2-0 lead.
The second period had no scoring, but it was furious back and fourth period, but the boys continued to play a well disciplined period. A small blip in a defensive change set up a breakaway that Belore aggressively played deep out of his crease, getting enough of the hard, high shot to direct out into the protective netting, keeping his perfect game intact.
The third period had us all on the edge of our seat. Even though we had a two goal cushion, it was the type of game that you felt could swing in momentum at anytime. With what we thought was a call coming on Midland, turned into double minor for Stiles for spearing, putting more pressure for our squad to tighten the reins and close this game out. Ryan Condotta who received a great pass from Brody Huitema, changed the dynamic of the period, scoring shorthanded to give us a little more breathing room, and more importantly, a goal in the goals for column just in case. Still shorthanded now a 4-3 after minors to both Midland and Ingersoll were taken, and with less than a second left in the third, Ethan Kish's nice feed to Cole McNeil reaped a reward as McNeil let one go from the left side blue line that beat the Midland goalie, making it a 4-0 final. A well deserved shutout by Belore, and a well earned victory for the boys from Ingersoll. We still have some work to do, the boys will need a decent night of rest and back at it tomorrow at 11am vs Ennismore..... Go Express!!