Mar 11, 2012 | stottle | 1648 views
Bantam Jr. Stars Dominate Semi Finals
The St. Thomas Bantam Jr. Stars played three strong games, and even mixed in some team discipline, to dominate the Centre Wellington Fusion and sweep the three game O.M.H.A. semi final series. While the game scores may not be supportive of the usage of the verb, the Stars clearly controlled the play throughout every game and but for the heroics of Fusion goaltending, the scores could have significantly more lopsided. Powered by some newfound scoring prowess by Jesse Tottle and a well-oiled power play, the Jr. Stars outscored Wellington Centre 9-2 in the three-game series.
Despite having home ice advantage, the Jr. Stars opened the series at the Elora Community Centre on Saturday, March 3, 2012. After a relatively tentative first period, the Stars appeared to find their legs and confidence in the second.
Only 23 seconds into the second frame, Zach Smith let go one of his patented, laser-like wrist shots from just inside the Centre Wellington blue line that fooled Fusion netminder Kevin Hutcison and found the top right corner for a 1-0 Jr. Stars lead. The Best Player, T.J. Turley of course, assisted on the play.
Midway through the second period, Jesse Tottle garnered a head of steam of steam through the neutral zone and split the two Fusion defenders in the high slot. While he lost control of the puck on an attempted deke, the blur of Jesse's stickhandling obviously confused Hutcison and the puck managed to find a hole between his pads to give the Stars a 2-0 lead.
Earlier in the second period, the Jr. Stars had put on a power play demonstration. Controlling the puck in the Fusion end zone for the entire two minutes, the Stars passed the puck fluently and created numerous scoring opportunities, only to be thwarted by the acrobatics of Hutcison. On the next occasion, Hutcison was left out to dry by his teammates.
With three minutes remaining in the second period, and with the Fusion making wholesale changes after icing the puck, Greyson Tottle alertly passed the puck up the Wellington Centre blue line, creating a 2 on 0 with Zach Smith and Jesse Tottle. Jesse drove the net and Zach fed him with a perfect pass. Jesse slipped the puck between Hutcison's legs for a 3-0 Stars lead.
While the Fusion managed to cut the lead to 3-1 on a defensive miscue, the outcome was never really in doubt despite a couple of undeserved power play opportunities by Centre Wellington in the third period. Deservedly, the Stars cruised to a 3-1 opening game victory.
Game 2 took place on Sunday afternoon at the friendly confines of the Timken Centre in St. Thomas. The contest was emotional, penalty filled contest with some suspect officiating. Such games had typically proven to be the downfall of the Jr. Stars as they would often lose their composure and spend an inordinate amount of time playing shorthanded. However, on this occasion, the Stars maintained their composure and did an admirable job in refraining from reacting to the Fusion's aggravating tactics or the head-scratching penalty calls.
With the crowd just settling into their seats, Jesse Tottle gave Stars' fans what they were looking for when opened the scoring only 31 seconds into the game by banging home a loose puck in front of Hutcison after a brilliant rush by Michael McArthur. Micmac and Tyson Durfy were credited with assists on the play.
The Stars carried the 1-0 lead into the second period until the Fusion scored a power play goal at 13:43. Not to be deterred, the Derek Folkard netted a power play goal midway through the second period with assists given to Dane Jacoletti and Michael McArthur. Dylan Newman cemented the Stars victory on the power play at 2:22 of the third period as he managed to elude two Fusion defenders, using his highly anticipated toe-drag move, before slipping the puck between the legs of Hutcison for a 3-1 Stars' victory. Assists were credited to the phantom Stars' players wearing number 88 and 87.
Game 3 took place at the Timken Centre on Friday night and the Stars dominated play from the drop of the puck. Jesse Tottle again opened the scoring for the Stars early in the first period. At 4:21, Tottle crossed the Fusion blue line and, to everyone's surprise, let go a slap shot that did not flutter nor wobble, and found the top corner past an astonished Hutcison to give Stars' a 1-0 lead. Tyson Durfy earned an assist on the goal.
Jesse scored his second goal of the game and fifth of the series, on the power play when he batted the puck out of the air for a 2-0 Stars lead. Derek Folkard was credited with the lone assist.
Only 22 second later, and while still on a power play, Zach Smith snuck one through the "seven-hole", which for all intents and purposes put the game out of reach for the Fusion. T.J. Turley earned an assist on the goal. Once again the Stars' managed to maintain their composure for the remainder of the contest and cruised to 3-0 game and series win.
O.M.H.A. Playdown Notes: Its nice to see other team implode and lose their control for a change...thanks Centre Wellington..... Fusion netminder Kevin Hutcison played all three games for the Fusion and was outstanding in each of them....the Stars have now won six games in a row and 10 out of 11 O.M.H.A. playdown games, outscoring their opposition 38-17.....next up are the Oshawa Generals for the O.M.H.A championship. The series will start next weekend in Oshawa.....until next time, keep your stick on the ice and keep reaching for the Stars.