The Shooter's Photography Ingersoll Midget LL squad capped off an exciting weekend of tournament hockey Sunday afternoon at the Ingersoll Memorial Arena, as they took the championship game to a well deserved overtime on a late goal by Max Branderhorst.
The weekend started off Friday when the tournament hosts took on the Strathroy Jr. Rockets in their opening game. The game was a good demonstration of both teams speed and skill. After a scoreless first period the second saw Kieghan Osmond break up a two on one to keep the game scoreless. Shortly after that the Express gained possession of the puck in the Strathroy zone where Tyler Bergman set up behind the Strathroy net and found Branderhorst sneaking in off the wing. Branderhorst took the pass and put it upstairs short side to give Ingersoll the 1-0 lead.
Later in the period Cohen Belore would steal the puck in the Rockets zone and promptly beat the goalie but ring the shot off the crossbar. The Express would finish the period with the lead. The visitors would finally beat Ingersoll goalie Dawson Sharpe on a wild goal mouth scramble with 5:46 left in the game. Both teams would generate back and forth opportunities for the remainder of the game and a nice glove save by Sharpe with 0:22 left in the game would seal the 1-1 tie for both teams.
The Express would open Saturdays schedule with a game against the Schomberg Red Wings. Some good team defence and solid goaltending led the way in the 3-0 victory. Ingersoll would open the scoring early in the second period thanks to some nice work by Matthew Molnar. Molnar sent a pass from the side boards behind the net to Branderhorst who fed Alex Schuett at the side of the net for the lead. Ingersoll would add another with 2:29 left in the period when Austin Brunelle would clean up the rebound on a point shot by Ben Scott. Daniel Pullen would get the second assist on Brunelle's goal.
Branderhorst would cap off the scoring in the third period on assists from Molnar and Schuett. Sharpe was solid when called upon and earned the shutout.
In the evening game the Express would get off to a slow start as the Kincardine Kinucks would open the scoring just 1:02 in. But the Express would respond a minute later on a goal by Belore with assists going to Schuett and Braden Wright. Ingersoll would take the lead with four minutes left in the first when Wright got his first of the tournament on assists by Liam Knox and Osmond.
A turnover in the second led to the Kinucks tying the game but a goal mouth scramble saw Schuett knock the puck loose and Daniel Martineau would pick it up and let a wrist shot go from the high slot to regain the lead. Martineau would strike again 0:30 later to put the Express up by two. The third would see strong defensive play and solid goaltending again by Sharpe to keep the Kinucks off the board and give the Express the 4-2 win and trip to the tournament finals.
The Sunday final would have the Express take on the Niagara on the Lake Wolves. The Express would start the game with a great energy shift by Belore, Branderhorst and Schuett and if not for the Wolves goalie making a sprawling glove save would have had the early lead.
Both teams would put on an exhibition of speed and skill and the Express would take the lead in the first when Pullen scored with 6:07 left on assists by Schuett and Branderhorst.
Niagara on the Lake would tie the game with 3:01 left in the second when they squeaked a shot from the slot through Sharpe. The Wolves would take the lead with 0:07.7 seconds left in the second. After the Express iced the puck with 0:10 left in the period the Wolves would win the faceoff clean and fire a hard slapshot from the high slot over Sharpe's shoulder.
The third period saw the Express spend the final ten minutes doing what they could to beat the solid goaltending from the Wolves and with 1:30 left in the game Schuett would work the puck back to Wright at the point. A slapshot towards the Wolves net was tipped by Branderhorst by Niagara on the Lake goalie. With the game tied at the end of regulation the Championship would be decided with a five minute 3 on 3 overtime period.
Early in the overtime, with lots of open ice, both teams would generate good scoring opportunities. But a jumbled line change at the Express bench caused enough confusion for the referee to hand out a too many men penalty. The Wolves would take advantage of the powerplay and end the tournament with 1:20 left in the overtime.
The Express played solid hockey for the entire tournament and got contributions from every member of the team as they picked up the silver medal.
