11-12 Atom AE ('01-'02) - OMHA Playdowns Pt.2
Our Atom AE Stars played their final two games of the preliminary round robin this weekend home against Erie on Saturday and away vs Southpoint on Sunday. We needed two wins and a lot of goals to move on, and although the boys played well, we came up just short with a heartbreaking loss in OT on Saturday that ended our chances for moving on to the quarter finals.
Erie handed us a lopsided defeat in our first meeting to open the playdowns a few weekends ago so our boys had something to prove in the rematch. We did not get off to a great start as we spotted the Storm an early 1-0 lead on a wrap around goal 2 minutes into the first, but from then on our boys regrouped and started to take the play to Erie for two solid periods. Ethan Bradley, assisted by Jackson Lees, tied it up for us late in the first on a backhand that trickled through Erie's great little goalie after a hard forechecking shift by the line. That was it for the scoring in regulation. We certainly had our chances, with a few posts and a few that simply hit the goalie in the face mask, but just would not go in for us. The third saw the teams trade chances, but Markus Thompson shut the door for us, and their keeper did the same. We took an "unfortunate" ( is that politically correct enough? ) penalty with 36 seconds left in the game to put us a man short going into overtime. Erie capitalized, and that was all she wrote. The boys played hard, and deserved a better fate in this one, but it was not to be. The team was certainly emotional and disappointed after the game, but we left the rink with our heads held high knowing that we played well enough to win. This was the first taste of playoff hockey for many of the boys on this young team, and they asserted themselves admirably. I was very proud of all of them, even if it was not the result that we were hoping for.
The Stars travelled to Leamington Sunday playing for pride and second place against the Southpoint Capitals. We have not played well this year in games where a long drive has been involved, and after the emotional loss the day before, I was not sure what to expect from our boys. The pregame talk started off with me screaming " WAKE UP" in the dressing room that made a few of the players jump out of their seats, but the shock value did not last and we started the game wearing concrete skates. Southpoint took advantage, and scored 3 minutes in. My blood was starting to boil on the bench as I saw a potential road disaster unfolding before me, and I resorted to begging the boys to start moving their feet and get their heads in the game. Gradually the team got going, and we tied it up late in the first when Tyler Johnston blocked a point shot that sprung Darryn Olyschlager on a breakaway, and he made no mistake as he rifled it over the keeper.
Our Stars scored the only goal of the second on a set play off the draw in the Capital's end. Tyler won the draw cleanly back to Sammy Mogk who promptly fired a hard low shot to the back of the net. It was nice to see the defensively responsible Sam get his first of the year, as he quietly does his job game in game out with very little fan fare. Tyler Johnston was David Steckel-like in the faceoff dot all game long as he set this play up repeatedly, generating chances for our D-men in the offensive zone.
The boys were firmly in control heading into the third, until our one defensive breakdown cost us when we left a man alone in front of the net and he banged in a rebound past a defenceless Rhett Devries. I left that line out and instructed them that it would be in their best interest to get that one back. Exactly 30 seconds later they did when Liam Armstrong passed the puck to Ethan Bradley who scored a highlight reel goal undressing the Southpoint D-man and firing a high one over their keeper. We started cruising from there as Darryn added his second a minute later, assisted by Lucas Glanville and Coleton Robison-Sareh. Lucas capped off the game for us on a delayed penalty call with 30 seconds left in the game, assisted by Ethan Bradley and Liam Armstrong. On the play Lucas was run over, hacked and slashed, but he kept his cool and got even with a goal that he tapped in from the side of the net. He even took a shot to the head after he scored that drew a 10 minute misconduct for the player who had been accosting him the entire shift. Good natured Lucas shrugged it off as we celebrated a good 5-2 win to close out our playdowns.
Our Stars finished 2-2 in the playdowns, good enough for second place, but falling short of moving on. It was a fun experience for the boys, and some valuable lessons were learned. We'll move on to the Shamrock League playdowns and try to continue improving, and hopefully chalk up some more wins along the way. Great job gang!
