Nov 26, 2012 | stottle | 1139 views
Early Departure for Midgets in Southpoint
The St. Thomas Midget Jr. Stars struggled mightily with their offensive production this past weekend at the Capitals Cup Challenge Tournament in Leamington, Ontario. Scoring has been the Stars' Achilles Heel almost the entire season, but nowhere has it been more evident that this past weekend. The Jr. Stars were only able to muster a meagre two goals in their three round-robin games. No matter how solid their goaltending may have been on the weekend, the age-old adage still holds true....it is very hard to win games when you don't score.
The Jr. Stars were hoping to carry some momentum into the tournament following their impressive 3-2 road win on Monday night against the London Jr. Knights. However, the tournament schedulers matched them up with a familiar foe in the Lorne Park Ojibwa on Friday night in Wheatley. The last time these two teams met, the shorthanded Ojibwa knocked the Jr. Stars out of the tournament with a 2-1 victory in the semi-final game at Owen Sound. One this occasion, Lorne Park brought their full roster with them to the rink, and they simply proved to be too much for the Stars. Showing their superior size and strength in both ends of the rink, the Ojibwa cruised to a 4-0 opening game victory.
On Saturday morning in Leamington, the Stars faced off against the Belle River Canadians. St. Thomas carried the play for most of the opening period, but it was the Canadians that opened the scoring at the 4:15 mark. A snap shot from the point weaved its way through a myriad of limbs before eluding the outstretched glove of Stars netminder Dan Black to give Belle River a 1-0 lead.
The Canadians doubled their lead early in the second period when they capitalized on a beautifully executed 2-on-1 rush. The shorthanded effort was one of the few scoring chances Belle River was able to generate in the period as St. Thomas played most of the frame in the Canadians' endzone. Assistant captain Keaton McIntyre ended the Stars' streak of scoreless periods at five when he notched a powerplay goal midway through the second period. Keaton's quick snap shot from the high slot ricocheted off a Belle River defender into the top shelf to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into the final stanza. Rookies T.J. "The BP" Turley and Dane Jacoletti earned assists on the play.
Despite numerous scoring chances in the third period, including a shorthanded breakaway by McIntyre that should have been whistled for a penalty, if not a penalty shot, the Stars were unable to locate the tying marker. The 2-1 loss relegated the Stars to the bronze medal game in their pool against the similarly winless Pelham Panthers.
Unfortunately, the Stars continued their snake-bitten ways on Saturday evening as Brodie Dunley was the only Jr. Star to light the lamp. His third period goal cut the Panther's lead to 3-1, and earned him sawbuck. But that was as close as the Stars would get as Pelham was able to skate off with the bronze medal and a 4-1 victory.
Weekend Notes: For those who lucky enough to make a reservation at the Rymal, it was an experience that will not soon be forgotten.....Will Strong was posterized when he showed excellent hang time on a pseudo-hip check against the Ojibwa....the Stars never led in any game this weekend...and were only tied when the score was 0-0....despite the frustrating results, the team continues to demonstrate a strong, positive work ethic.....Taylor Emmerton, a self proclaimed "wrecking crew" has very effective since being moved to the forward position....for anyone who hasn't already heard, he had six shots on goal and won his only face off attempt in the final game....on Sunday morning, Belle River defeated the Stouffville Clippers 4-3 and the host Southpoint Capitals defeated the Ojibwa 4-1....Southpoint went on to win the tournament championship with a 4-1 victory over the Canadians....next up for the Stars is a return to Stratford where captain Andrew Fenn's goal in the final minute of the third period earned the Stars a tie, saving his team from the embarrassment of being the first team to lose to the Cullitons in a regular season game.