The PeeWee Stars completed a miraculous comeback against Southpoint on Tuesday night at the Timkin Center to win their opening round of the O.M.H.A. playdowns. After falling behind 2-0 in the series, the Stars won their third consecutive game, a 4-2 victory, in one of the gutsiest performances of the season.
Despite another superb motivational speech by Mrs. Hulst, followed by the inspirational pre-game player introductions, the Stars came out looking like they wanted to give this one away. Unnecessary penalties resulted in the Stars playing shorthanded for most of the first period and prevented them from re-establishing any of the momentum they had gathered from their two previous wins.
However, on this night the Stars penalty killers, led by T.J. Turley, Josh Reda and Pierce Lawrence, shut down lethal Southpoint power play, including three opportunities in the first period when the came could have been determined. Gratefully, the Stars left the first period with a scoreless tie.
Southpoint opened the scoring in the first three minutes of the second period as a screen shot found its way through to the net and banked in off the post. But from that point forward, the Stars earned their right to move on to the next round of the playdowns. Showing the resilience and character they have throughout the series, the Stars responded less than six minutes later as Andrew Baxter pounced on a rebound to tie the score at 1-1 and shift the momentum going into the third period. Josh Reda and Jesse Tottle earned assists on the power play marker.
The Stars power play unit capitalized again early in the third period as Josh Reda, arguably the best forward throughout the series, slammed home a Dane Jacoletti rebound from close range to give the Stars a 2-1 lead. Less than a minute later, T.J. Turley, who has become renowned for his playoff heroics, fought his way around a Southpoint defender and slid one past an unsuspecting goaltender to give the Stars some breathing room with a 3-1 led. It was T.J.'s second consecutive unassisted effort and fifth goal in as many games for the Stars, more than doubling his regular season output. One of the Southpoint parents was heard saying "Who is that guy?".
Southpoint converted on a nice two-on-one break with eleven minutes left in regulation to narrow the margin to 3-2 and give coach Corey his first grey hair.
Unshaken, the Stars played extremely well defensively in the final ten minutes of the game and shut down the Southpoint offence. Josh Reda powered his way out of the St. Thomas end zone and scored into an empty net (from his own side of the red line?!?) with thirty seconds remaining to seal the deal and a 4-2 victory for the Stars.
Stars goaltender Brennan Agius played another solid game and demonstrated to his teammates that he is a "money" player. Derek Smith was once again strong in both ends of the rink. Josh Reda continues to carry the team with his relentless effort. Dane Jacoletti played the best game a defenseman has played since Bobby Orr retired. I think Superman wears Dane Jacoletti pajamas to bed.
When confronted about his ten-minute misconduct during the post-game interviews, Isaac Robinson pleaded his innocence, "I didn't say anything. I swear!" to a rather unsympathetic audience.
Riverside is our next target.
Until then...Stick down, cover the short side, and don't get deked.