Nov 18, 2021 | Rich McNeil | 192 views
Game #9 - A tough loss at home vs Tillsonburg
Louie's Pizza and Pasta U15's hit the ice tonight hosting our Hwy 19 rivals from Tillsonburg. Both teams were tied on top of the Southern Counties standings going into this match. Starting for the Express tonight was Jaxon Pinard, who last seen game action in Ayr.
The first period either squad could get anything going, even though there was a good pace by both teams. Both Jaxon and the Tillsonburg netminder, made a couple of good stops, and the period ended with no score for either squad. With Sam House away, Brody Huitema was brought up from the Dove Dental Squad to fill the void on our defense.
In the 2nd, Tillsonburg found the back of the net, when we lost control of the puck in our zone, and they pounced on the loose puck and scored on a very good release. Tillsonburg would take the lead as we got caught on a line change, and Tillsonburg marched down on a 3-0 breakout. Originally we thought Jaxon was able to squeeze the pads, but just trickled in giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. Right off the next whistle the Express charged into the offensive zone and Josh Robles buried a lose puck past the Tillsonburg netminder, bring the home squad within one. Assists were awarded to Max Matheson and Westin Matsumoto. We would get a power play halfway through the frame, but could not get the equalizer. With Cole McNeil in the box for a crosscheck, Jaxon Pinard made an amazing cross ice save on the Tornadoes forward to keep the game 2-1 heading to the final period.
It would not take long to tie the game in the third, as a nice breakout occured with McNeil finding Jonah Martire, who made a great pass to Noah Muller, who unleased a tricky wrister that the goaltender only got a piece of, but not near enough to keep it out of the back of the net. Any momentum we were gaining, would be short lived as we took 4 minor penalties in the final frame, and played short handed for much of the period. Even though we held them at bay, it looked like we were headed for a tie, when a point shot by Tillsonburg took a bad bounce of the Express defender and found it's way to the back of the net. Tillsonburg would add an empty netter to take the contest 4-2. We get a bit of time off here to recharge. Next game is Tues the 23rd when we travel to play Twin Center Stars in Wellesley.