Jan 23, 2012 | stottle | 725 views
Jr. Stars Rebound Against Sting
The Major Bantam Jr. Stars rebounded from a humiliating defeat in Sarnia the previous weekend to skate away with a 5-3 victory against the Jr. Sting on Saturday afternoon within the friendly confines of the Timken Centre. For the first time since returning from their European tour, Stars enjoyed the luxury of having eleven skaters available for duty. Zach Smith sat out his one game suspension; Dylan Newman finished the last of his exceedingly lengthy five game sentence; and Josh Mallory continues on the road to recovery from a knee injury.
Perhaps it was the full moon or maybe it was pure serendipity, but for some unknown reason on this rare Saturday afternoon, St. Thomas fans were able to enjoy the same type of officiating that other Alliance home teams seem to enjoy on a regular basis. If not for an embarrassingly inept power play, the Jr. Stars could have easily put the game away in the early going. However, it was the Jr. Sting that caught Rogie napping midway through the first period on a seemingly harmless shot along the ice from the blue line to take a 1-0. Rogie tried to make a case that he was screened on the play but his argument quickly fell upon unsympathetic ears.
As all "best players" do when their team is behind, T.J. Turley elevated his game to give the Stars a lift. With 6:14 left in the second period, the linesman waived off an apparent Sarnia icing and caught the unsuspecting Sting making a wholesale line change. An alert Isaac Robinson made a quick outlet pass to a waiting Jesse Tottle at the Sting blue line. Breaking in on a 2-0 on Sting netminder Riley Collins, Jesse faked a pass, then a shot, before sliding the puck over to a waiting T.J. Turley, who made no mistake in slamming it home to tie the game at 1-1.
Clearly upset over the icing non-call, Riley shot the puck the length of the ice following T.J.'s slap dunk and was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. On the ensuing power play, Dane Jacoletti dropped for Derek Folkard just inside the Sting blue line. Folksy meandered his way into the high slot before unloading a fluttering snap shot that somehow found the seven hole under Collins' arm and gave the Stars a 2-1 lead.
The Jr. Sting tied the game exactly one minute later while shorthanded when Nolan Riley's fanned break away attempt snuck underneath a sprawled Greyson Tottle to temporarily tie the game at 2-2. However, only thirty seconds later at 3:52 of the second period, Michael McArthur streaked down the left side and managed to squeeze the puck between the right post and a rattled Riley Collins to restore the Stars' one-goal lead heading into the second period intermission.
While enjoying a man advantage, Kyle Adams was on the receiving end of a beautiful goalmouth pass to tie the game with 9:43 left in the third period.
However, the Jr. Stars replied with a power play goal of their own with less than four minutes left in the game. Jesse Tottle slid a pass from behind the Sting net to a waiting Dane Jacoletti, who quickly jammed it past an out-of-position Collins and give the Stars a 4-3 lead. Tyson Durfy was also credited with an assist on the game winning goal.
Derek Folkard scored his second goal of the game into an empty net with less than ten seconds remaining to seal the deal for the Stars.
Game Notes: the win increased the Stars' regular season home record to 8-4-2....except for the opening goal, Rogie was solid in net for the Stars, but more importantly, didn't unduly scare anyone with his puckhandling....the game marked the return of Andrew Baxter to the fold, but not the notorious orange gloves, which have been retired....Josh Mallory is hopeful of returning this upcoming weekend....the penalties were 13-4 in favour of the Stars....but the power play performance certainly made it hard for Stars fans to "enjoy" the man advantage situations....until next time....keep your stick on the ice and keep reaching for the Stars.