Nov 10, 2010 | stottle | 672 views
MicMac Leads Stars Past Aeros
Michael McArthur led the Stars past a depleted Oakridge Aeros team on Wednesday night at the Timkin Centre. The final score was not indicative of the play as St. Thomas controlled the game from the opening faceoff, but had to survive a couple of tense moments in the final period for a 3-2 victory. The win gave the Stars their eighth regular season victory of the year, against two losses, and allowed them to remain unbeaten at home.
Michael McArthur opening the scoring for the Stars at 3:56 of the first period after some brilliant puck movement in the Aeros end. Zach Smith moved in from his perch at the blue line and received a nifty backhand pass from Michael at the side of the Aeros net. A couple of slick moves later, Zach returned the favour by finding MicMac alone on the other side of the net for a wide open slam dunk and a 1-0 Stars lead.
The Aeros tied the game at 1-1 in the last minute of the first period following a Stars turnover in the neutral zone and some lacklustre backchecking. Aeros assistant captain Kurtis Wenman, who also scored against the Stars on the weekend, made no mistake on the breakaway as he finished off a nice deke by tucking the puck neatly between the pads of an otherwise lonely Stars netminder, Brennan Agius.
Andrew Baxter put the Stars up 2-1 with 8:05 left in the second period. After another dominant shift in the Aero's zone, Andrew and MicMac worked a give and go from down low, almost to perfection. While the play did not turn out to be the highlight reel goal this line is continuously looking for, Andrew did get enough composite on the puck to slide it past the Aero's goaltender. Alex Sanders also assisted on the play.
With just over five minutes left in the second period, Matt Thomson was flagged for slashing, and then given an additional two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct when, according to Matty, he launched into a completely silent protest of the original call. Hmmm. In any event, as the hockey gods typically dictate following a bad penalty, the Aero's capitalized on the powerplay with less than two minutes remaining in the period to tie the score at 2-2 heading into the third period.
A soon-to-be-vacationing Josh Reda proved to be the hero on this day when he fought for a loose puck following a face-off deep in the Areo's zone and slid in a backhander for a shorthanded tally and a 3-2 Stars lead. Josh Mallory orchestrated the entire play and was credited with an assist.
The Stars managed to kill off another penalty with three minutes remaining in the game to record the 3-2 win.
Game Notes:...The Stars will be without their bulldog, Josh Reda, for at least the next three games as he will be soaking up the sun on a caribbean cruise ship...Hard to imagine Josh sitting still long enough to get a tan...The Stars will also be missing Trent Jordan Turley for the weekend games as he heads to Mexico on Saturday morning....Oh yeah, Diggs, Paul and Cory will be away as well for Cory's nuptials. Congrats....Rogie Tottle missed the game with a bad case of the "Black Ops" flu....The Stars still control their own destiny and have an opportunity to finish in first place for the first half of the season. It will take a Herculean effort to beat three formidable opponents in Hamilton, Brantford and London on back-to-back-to-back nights....Until then, keep your stick down, cover the short side and don't get deked.