The PeeWee Stars put in a solid effort in the opening game of their O.M.H.A. playdown series with Southpoint on Tuesday night in Wheatley, but came away empty handed. While the effort was commendable, the team seemed to battle nerves, frustration and their own emotions throughout the entire game as they came out on the short end of a 3-2 decision.
The usually reliable and potent Stars powerplay was anything but on this night. Two first period power play opportunities failed to produce any meaningful scoring chances. To make matters worse, on the Stars' first powerplay of the second period, some nervous puckhandling inside the Stars blue line produced a turnover and gave Southpoint an early 1-0 lead with a shorthanded tally.
Southpoint extended their lead to 2-0 with just under ten minutes to go in the second period on an impressive individual effort by Southpoint assistant captain Calyn Kir. However, Andrew Baxter gave the Stars life less than a minute later as he picked up a lose puck near the face-off dot and unloaded a howitzer past a stunned Southpoint netminder, Mitchell Monaco, to narrow the gap to 2-1.
With Pierce Lawrence off for cross-checking, Matthew Thomson authored the play of the game with a remarkable rush down the right side. Picking up the puck in his own end and gaining momentum through the neutral zone, Matty sped past the helpless Southpoint defenceman and rifled a shot at the Southpoint goal. T. J. Turley, who was excellent on the P.K. all night, streaked in past a Southpoint defender and banged home the rebound for a shorthanded goal which tied the game a 2-2 with five minutes remaining in the second period.
The Stars had several glorious chances to take the lead, but could not put one past Monaco. Shawn Thomson made a brilliant play as he picked off a Riverside clearing attempt in the offensive zone and deked out two defenders before apparently sliding the puck between Monaco's pads. Despite the exaltations of the Stars forwards, it was ruled that the puck somehow failed to cross the goal line.
Even more frustrating for the Stars, early in the third period Josh Reda made one of his trademark bull rushes around a Southpoint defenceman, only to be thwarted by the Southpoint tender. The puck lay loose in the goalmouth for several seconds as both Derek Smith and Pierce Lawrence had opportunities to shovel the puck into the empty net, but incredibly and defying all laws of physics, the puck never crossed the goal line.
As Lady Luck would have it, a Stars' "own goal" with five minutes remaining in the game somehow trickled through the pads of Brennan Agius, who gave the Stars his third consecutive solid outing, and gave Southpoint a 3-2 lead which they never relinquished.
While the Stars did not surrender a powerplay goal, undisciplined penalties raised its ugly head again and undoubtedly cost the Stars some momentum as well as opportunities to score. Although they are clearly the stronger team, passing and puck control seemed foreign the Stars as they fought their own nerves and frustration at every turn. Although no hats were awarded after the game, Bryce Kernohan, Josh Reda, Shawn Thomson and Alex Sanders turned in notable performances for the Stars.
The Stars' bad luck continued after the game as Andre Reda lost a pint of blood and a unanimous decision in his head-butting battle with a car door. Just to rub more salt into the gaping wound, the Coach suffered a flat tire on his way home (although he has gained a couple spare tires over the past few years) but the Tottle family certainly enjoyed a pleasant visit with a fine representative of Loveday's towing.
The Stars return to action on Thursday night in St. Thomas, fully aware that they can correct all mistakes made Tuesday night and ensure that the best team will win this series on Sunday afternoon.
Until then...keep your stick down, cover the short side, and don't get deked.