Oct 06, 2012 | stottle | 854 views
Stars Settle for Draw Against Jr. Knights
The St. Thomas Impressions Printing Midgets remain undefeated after their first two regular season games, thanks in part to a Keaton McIntyre goal in the final minute of the third period that tied the sister-kisser at 1-1 on a chilly Saturday afternoon at the Timken Centre. Despite missing Aiden Estabrooks and Josh Mallory from the outset, and Max McVety for the third period, the Jr. Stars appeared to the be the stronger team as the game went along. Although some Jr. Knights' fans may believe that the Stars were fortunate to come away with a tie, most hockey aficionados in attendance at the STMHA rink would agree that the Stars deserved better.
The first period opened like many heavyweight fights, with both sides apparently feeling each other out defensively and not willing to take many chances offensively. As a result, there were relatively few shots on goal or opportunities to score in a very evenly played first period.
A spectacular individual effort by defenseman Logan McKee put the Jr. Knights up 1-0. Taking the puck from his own zone, McKee weaved his way through the neutral zone and through the Jr. Stars defense before cutting into the slot and slipping a ten-foot wrist shot through Stars' backstopper Dan Black's five hole. Blackie was fooled on the shot as Logan clearly intended to shoot high blocker but his fanned attempt somehow found a rare hole between Dan wickets for their only goal of the game.
The Jr. Stars almost tied the game in the final minute of the first period when newly appointed captain, Andrew Fenn, hit a streaking Will Strong behind the Knights' defense in the neutral zone, sending him in for a breakaway. Unfortunately for Will and Stars' fans, his shot beat the Knights goaltender but not the post and the score remained 1-0 heading into the second period.
The second period featured several glorious individual scoring efforts by Keaton McIntyre, with the power and speed reminiscent of a now locked-out Alexander Ovechkin. His rushes frequently brought Star's fans to the edge of their seats, only to be thwarted at the last second by the Knight's defence or goaltender. The Star's big line of Andrew Fenn, Will Strong and Jesse Tottle seemed to fade slightly in the latter half of the period as their ice time increased. However, the score remained 1-0 in favour of the Jr. Knights at the second period intermission of a very well played game.
St. Thomas seemed to take full advantage of the rest in between periods as they came out invigorated and determined not to let the game slip away. Star's netminder Dan Black made his most important save of the game at 17: 21 of the third period as he stoned a Knight's scoring chance from point blank. The save seemed to spark the Star's offense as it dominated the rest of the game.
With just over five minutes gone in the third period, Keaton made another one of his memorable individual rushes and, with some nifty stickhandling, found himself in the high slot. Unfortunately, his quick wrist shot glanced of the left shoulder of the Knight's netkeeper and bounced harmlessly into the corner. Only 30 seconds later, Stars' winger Steve Drew found himself alone on a breakaway from the Knight's blue line, only to zip his wrister high over the crossbar. Continuing their offensive barrage, less than a minute later, centre Keaton McIntyre enjoyed another semi-break away, only to be disrupted by a hard slash from a Knight's defender which drew repercussions from the officials but may have saved a goal.
The Stars were finally rewarded for their offensive efforts in the final twenty seconds of the game. With the man advantage and the goalie pulled for an extra attacker, Jesse Tottle carried the puck across the Knight's blue line near the boards and looked to thread a pass to Andrew Fenn driving to the net. Tottle's pass was partially blocked but Fenn still managed to tip the puck back to Keaton cruising into the high slot. Much to the delight of Stars' fans, his low wrist shot slid underneath the butterfly of London's goaltender and found the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1 and earn the Stars a much deserved point.
Sights, Sounds and Abstract Thoughts: Prior to the game, Andrew Fenn was awarded the captaincy of the team. Keaton McIntyre, Will Strong and Taylor Emmerton will serve as assistant captains....it is still very early in the season but the Stars look like they can compete with any team in the league so far....in their last last exhibition game, the Knights defeated pre-season favourites London North 2-0. Just sayin'.....you have to be impressed with the hockey sense of rookie Josh Butler. For a guy who hasn't played at this level very often, he tries to make all the right plays at the right times, and in both ends of the rink......the defense pairing of Dane Jacoletti and Nick Phillips seemed to develop some chemistry and moved the puck extremely well together throughout the game....the officials raised the eyebrows of both players and fans from both teams.....in the second period, the play was blown dead as Keaton was just about to shoot from the slot because the officials incorrectly suspected he wasn't sporting a mouthguard. Some objective bystanders might question whether it was the best time to investigate that meaningless infraction.....Apparently the officials did not appreciate Max McVety's rendition of his favourite explicit lyrics. As he was skating onto the ice prior to the start of the third period, Max burst into song and was subsequently handed a misconduct and suspension. Seems harsh...even if it was an Eminem song....after the game, timekeeper extraordinaire Matty Thomson, opined that the Stars need to finish their checks consistently and be more aggressive in their defensive coverage, especially against the opposing team's defensemen. But then again, he is just a timekeeper.....the Stars return to the ice tomorrow in Woodstock seeking with first road victory.