Oct 31, 2010 | stottle | 413 views
Nightmare At The Allman
The Minor Bantam Stars experienced a nightmare of their own on Hallowe'en in Stratford, Ontario. Penalties, misconducts, hit posts, suspensions, reversed calls, and a couple of disallowed goals were all part of the bad dream experienced by the Stars and their fans at the venerable Allman Memorial Arena. The end result was a frustrating, emotionally charged 3-1 win for Stratford as they handed the Stars their second loss of the season.
The Stars struggled to gain momentum from the opening face-off against an obviously motivated Stratford team. Evan Metelski opened the scoring for the Warriors at 3:08 of the first period while the Stars were shorthanded. Evan lost control of the puck in the high slot, but it bounced off a Stars skate back onto his stick, and he slammed it home for the early lead.
Only thirteen seconds later, Andrew Baxter streaked in on a breakaway and tucked the puck neatly behind the Stratford netminder to apparently tie the game at 1-1. The referee immediately signaled a goal and the Stars lined up at centre ice. However, the referee decided to consulted with Warrior goaltender Wyatt Taylor as well as the linesman who had witnessed the play from just outside the blue line, before concluding that he must have seen the black tape of a hockey stick blade behind the goal line rather than the puck. The call was reversed and play continued with a 1-0 Stratford lead.
The Warriors took advantage of Stars turnover just inside the Stratford blue line which gave Josh Hill a partial breakaway with just over thirty seconds remaining in the period. Under duress by two Stars defenders, Josh was able to let go a backhander that slid just inside the far post past Rogie Tottle, who admittedly had overplayed his angle.
The nightmare continued for the Stars as, just before the end of the first period, Michael McArthur was ejected on a seemingly innocent and harmless piece of forechecking. I'm sure nobody was more surprised with the call of checking from behind than the alleged victim of the play as he barely moved on the hit and never paused in his attempt to clear the puck. Nonetheless, Mr. McArthur was gone from the game and will miss the first game of the Regional Silverstick Qualifier in Woodstock next weekend.
In the first minute of the second period, while killing the McArthur minor, Andrew Baxter avoided two Warrior would-be checkers and attempted a wrap-around, only to be thwarted by the Stratford goaltender's skate. Not to be denied, Andrew followed up on his rebound and jammed the puck home well before a whistle was blown to stop play. Although no explanation was given for disallowing the goal, it can only be assumed that the official had meant to blow his whistle before any Stars player could possibly have scored.
For his commentary on the integrity of the disallowed goal call, Andrew Baxter was assessed 10-minute misconduct, although some have attributed the commentary to Josh Reda, who was also in the general vicinity.
Perhaps feeling a little guilty about the Baxter misconduct, while killing a Zach Smith penalty for body checking with extreme force, Josh Reda was nabbed for checking to the head. Although I still insist a pre-requisite for making the call is that some part of the body must come into contact with the opponents head, that argument fell on deaf ears as Mr. Reda was assessed a minor penalty and the Stars' third 10-minute misconduct of the game.
After all the tricks played upon the Stars in the game, they finally got a treat with 7:29 left in the second period. Matty Thomson blazed down the right side, took a beautiful pass from Jesse Tottle and broke in alone on the Warrior net. After a little juking and jiving, Matty shelfed it so quickly that you could hear the head of Alexander Ovechkin laughing madly inside a locker. The period ended with the Stars trailing 2-1. Bryce Kernohan was credited with an assist on the play.
Early in the third period, with Pierce Lawrence off for standing beside a falling Warrior, a clearing attempt by Dane Jacoletti hit Alex Sanders in the ribs, just inside his shoulder pads. While Alex was coming to the bench rather than falling to the ice, like any good St. Thomas Star player would, the Warriors took advantage of the manpower shortage. Warriors' centre Maverick Petrie raced down the left side and snapped a laser, top cheese on the short side, past a startled Rogie Tottle for a 3-1 Stratford lead.
The Stars had several chances to score, especially with the goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, but could not cut into the Warrior lead and the game ended with a distasteful 3-1 loss.
Game Notes....The game feature several big hits, most notably by Matty Thomson, Andrew Baxter and Zach Smith....It also featured some long stretch passes, a play the coaching staff has been attempting to instill for years. Looks like it has finally clicked in.... I would expect to see Andrew Baxter taking full advantage of every opportunity to accept a stretch pass...Zack Smith made several superb passes and played another strong game...I would expect to see Zack to be taking full advantage of every opportunity to effect a stretch pass...Dane Jacoletti continued with his stellar, determined play in both ends of the rink...There were moments out on the ice where Matty Thomson appeared to be a man playing amongst boys....The Stars out-penalized the Warriors 50 minutes to 22....The Stars may have an opportunity to extract some measure of revenge against Sarnia and Stratford as they may meet at next week's Silverstick Qualifier....Until then...Keep your stick on the ice and keep reaching for the Stars.