Nov 04, 2012 | stottle | 1794 views
Midget Jr. Stars Experience Power Outage
While most of the northeast United States spent the week recovering from flooding and power outages due to Hurricane Sandy, the St. Thomas Midget Jr. Stars continued to battle a power outage of their own. The Jr. Stars played three games this week within the formerly friendly confines of the Timken Centre but were only able to bulge the twine a grand total of four times. The week started off with a 5-1 loss to the London Bandits on Tuesday night. The Stars offense exploded for a 2-1 victory on Saturday afternoon against the Woodstock Navy Vets, before suffering through a disappointing 3-1 loss to a depleted Brantford 99ers squad on Sunday afternoon.
Although the Bandits may be the team to beat this season, nothing seemed to be clicking for the Jr. Stars when they faced off against London on Hallowe'en night. Even before the puck was dropped, it was discovered that Josh Mallory was out with a finger ailment, while both Aiden Estabrooks and Nick Phillips had left their jerseys at home.
In fitting fashion, a poor line change by the Bandits resulted in their first goal. With the Stars rushing into the London zone, a Bandits player decided to change rather than backcheck. A quick turnover in the offensive zone coincided with Bandit forward Connor Lyttle coming off the bench just in time to accept a breakaway pass. Lyttle made no mistake to give the Bandits a 1-0 lead at 9:15 of the first period.
At 6:10 of the opening frame, Keaton McIntyre picked the pocket of a London defender in the offensive zone, cut left into the slot and ripped a low wrister across his body past the outstretched glove of Bandits netminder, Colin Bilik. While the goal temporarily tied the game, unfortunately for Jr. Stars fans, the unassisted effort would be the only lamp-lighter for St. Thomas on the evening.
The speedy and talented Bandits dominated the second period with three unanswered goals and ultimately cruised to a 5-1 victory.
In an effort to shake the Jr. Stars out of their offensive doldrums, the coaching staff elected to juggle their lines on Saturday afternoon against Woodstock. However, the changes did not bear any immediate fruit as the two teams scrambled through a scoreless first period.
The coaching staff decided to reunite the line of Fenn, Strong and Tottle for the second period and the move paid immediate dividends. On the very first shift of the second period, Will Strong surprised everyone, including Woodstock goaltender Peter Poole, with a backhander from just inside the left face off dot into to the top left corner to open the scoring for the Jr. Stars. Andrew Fenn and Jesse Tottle assisted on the play.
The Navy Vets almost tied the score moments later when a Woodstock shot from the point was tipped in front of the St. Thomas net. Stars netminder Dan Black managed to get just enough of the puck with his shoulder to deflect it off the outside of the right post. Moments later, Woodstock's leading scorer Nick Zehr weaved his way through three Stars defenders before flipping the puck high over Dan's right shoulder to tie the game at 1-1.
St. Thomas enjoyed three 2-on-1 breaks during the period but were thwarted on each occasion by Poole. The Stars recaptured the lead at 3:29 of the middle stanza. Jesse Tottle carried the puck into the Woodstock zone and faked a shot twice before dribbling a weak wrist shot toward Poole's direction. Luckily, the puck bounced off a Woodstock defenders skate onto the stick of a hard-driving Andrew Fenn, who tapped the puck into the empty cage to give the Stars a 2-1 lead. Will Strong also drew an assist on the goal.
The Stars dominated much of the third period but simply could not generate many realistic scoring opportunities. Luckily on this day, Woodstock was offensively challenged as well and St. Thomas was able to hang on for a much needed 2-1 victory.
On Sunday afternoon, Stars fans could be forgiven for believing that their team might be due to break out of their scoring drought. After all, they were playing a Brantford team that had recorded only one victory on the season, lost 4-1 to the London Bandits the previous evening, had three players serving suspensions (including two players serving their ninth of a ten game suspension), and were only able to dress ten skaters for the game. However, the frustration continued for Stars' shooters and their fans.
The 99ers opened the scoring at 2:37 of the opening period. Brantford forward, Ray Munro broke into the St. Thomas zone on a 2-on-1 break. Stars puckstopper Greyson Tottle stopped Munro's initial shot with his left pad but lost sight of the rebound. Munro followed up on his shot and slammed home the rebound past an unsuspecting Rogie to give Brantford a 1-0 lead heading into the second period.
Stevie Drew tied the game less than two minutes into the second stanza. A point shot from Aiden Estabrooks was blocked in the high slot but ended up on the stick of Keaton McIntyre. His attempted shot was also partially blocked but Stevie was there to slide home the loose puck between the legs of Austin Hill and tie the game at 1-1.
Despite playing with only nine players for the final nine minutes of the second period due to a misconduct, the 99ers still managed to control much of the offense in the second period and direct a staggering total of 21 shots at the Stars net. Jesse Tottle appeared to give the Stars the lead in the final two minutes of the period, but his deke attempt off a breakaway was somehow stopped by Hill and the two teams entered the intermission tied at 1-1.
At 14:30 of the third period, Aiden Estabrooks made an impressive end-to-end rush before rifling a wrist shot of the top of the crossbar. The 99ers had a crossbar of their own of a 2-on-1 break with just under five minutes to play. With 2:33 remaining on the clock and the face-off in the St. Thomas zone, Ray Munro picked up a loose puck off the draw and found himself alone in front of Greyson Tottle. Munro flipped the puck over Rogie's shoulder to break the hearts of Stars' supporters.
With the net empty for an extra attacker, Brantford captain Garrett Riley's 180 foot clearing attempt found the vacated net to make the final score 3-1.
Weekly Notes: Watching Andrew Fenn play is worth the price of admission. He is truly the captain of this team and leader by example with his tireless work ethic....Stevie Drew seems to be one of the few Stars players willing to get into the tough scoring areas in front of the opposing team's goalie....but his willingness to do so is paying off on the score sheet....if they are going to be more consistent offensively, they are going to start scoring some "ugly" goals....the Stars will play eight of the next nine games on the road....starting this Thursday in Sarnia....Let's all pray for some help from the goal scoring gods.