Oct 17, 2012 | stottle | 890 views
Bandits Steal Point from Dunley and Midget Stars
Former defenseman turned winger, Brodie Dunley scored all three goals for the St. Thomas Midget Jr. Stars, but it wasn't enough for the win as the league leading London Bandits came back from a two-goal third period deficit to remain undefeated and force a 3-3 tie on Tuesday night at the Timken Centre.
Against the Bandits, Keaton McIntyre displayed a dimension to his game that was heretofore in hibernation; that of an effective playmaker. Stars' fans this season have become accustomed to sitting on the edge of their seats when the "Human Highlight Reel" starts driving to the net with the puck. At the same time, his line mates were generally left with the role of decoy. But all that changed on Tuesday night. The Bandit defense effectively eliminated the end-to-end rush from Keaton's game, and assistant captain made the necessary adjustments to maintain his dominance as a dynamic offensive weapon, starting from the drop of the puck.
The line of Keaton McIntyre, Steve Drew and Brodie Dunley started the game off on the right note for the Jr. Stars when Keaton spotted Steve alone in the slot and fed him with a quick tape-to-tape pass. Steve blasted a quick snap shot high and wide for what was probably the only respectable scoring opportunity generated by either team in an otherwise uneventful first period.
The Jr. Stars opened the scoring early in the second period. McIntyre took a pass from Drew and drove wide left around a London defender. Circling behind the Bandits net, Keaton dished a sweet pass to Brodie Dunley who was standing alone on the Bandits doorstep. Brodie made no mistake as he slammed home his first goal of the season past unsuspecting Bandits goalkeeper Colin Bilik to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, while playing shorthanded, the Bandits forced a turnover in the St. Thomas zone and London forward Kyle DiCicco found himself all alone in front of Dan Black. After a little shake 'n bake by DiCicco, he attempted quick wrist shot to the far side, only to be subject to the absolute larceny of Blackie's glove.
Dunley struck again at 6:47 of the second period. Brodie took a nice feed from Keeton on his off-wing and rifled a quick shot to the low blocker side of Bilik. Stevie Drew also earned an assist on the play.
Unfortunately for Stars fans, the Bandits were not content to head into the intermission behind 2-0. With less than a minute to play, a missed body-check just inside the St. Thomas zone allowed London forward Luke Bettencourt to cruise into the slot and rip a wrist shot through Dan Black's five hole to make the score 2-1 at intermission.
Dunley completed the trifecta at 15:11 of the third period. Keaton's spin-a-rama slap shot from just inside the Bandit's blue line was perfectly deflected by Brodie up under the cross bar, returning the Stars' two goal advantage. Keaton, with his third helper of the game, and Taylor Emmerton were credited with assists on the play.
The Stars had an opportunity to put the game away only seconds later when the Bandits were assessed six consecutive minor penalties over a span of four minutes. Unfortunately, the St. Thomas power play was unable to capitalize on any of their opportunities, and Stars' fans could sense what was to come.
Less than a minute after killing off the penalties, Bandits forward Luke Bettencourt pounced on a rebound from a point shot for his second goal of the game to narrow the score to 3-2. Two minutes later, Tyler Perry completed the comeback by corralling another rebound off of a quick shot from just outside the goal crease to tie the score 3-3.
The Stars enjoyed another power play opportunity for the final 1:25 of the game. Bilik made a nice glove save on an Andrew Fenn shot off of a 2-on-1 with Jesse Tottle but that was the only decent scoring opportunity the Stars could muster and the final buzzer sounded with a 3-3 tie.
Comments from the Cheap Seats: The Bandits were assessed eight minor penalties in the third period, while the Stars were never short handed. If the Stars are going to reach their potential, a more effective power play is going to be essential.....Otherwise, the coaching staff has to be generally pleased with the results to this point in the season......Dan Black was tremendous again in net for the Stars and could not be faulted for any of the Bandits goals.....Aiden Estabrooks sat out his one game suspension and will make his return to the active roster as part of the host team for this weekend's tournament in St. Thomas.