Jan 06, 2013 | stottle | 1662 views
Midget Start New Year With a Sweep
The St. Thomas Midget Jr. Stars were glad to see the end of 2012, as they finished the year with four straight losses to three teams below them in the Alliance standings. However, after a lengthy layoff during the holiday season, the Midget Jr. Stars were able to shake off the rust and open 2013 with renewed vigour, not to mention the return of Keaton McIntyre, which resulted in a sweep of an important weekend home and home series with the London Jr. Knights this past weekend.
The third place Jr. Stars opened 2013 with a rare Friday night contest at home and a two point lead against the fourth place Jr. Knights. Brodie Dunley, who has established himself as one of the most reliable and consistent performers for the Stars, opened the scoring for St. Thomas early in the first period. At 13:41 of the opening frame, Keaton McIntrye streaked down the left boards with the puck and drove to the net, only to be thwarted by the left pad of Knights goaltender John Lycett. However, Dunley alertly followed up the play and banged home the rebound to give the Jr. Stars their first lead in almost a month.
The Jr. Knights tied the game midway through the second period when London forward Justin Frehner deflected the point shot of defenceman Jordan McManus past St. Thomas puckstopper Dan Black. The Jr. Stars regained the lead on the power play with less than a minute to play in the second frame. With swingman extraordinaire Taylor Emmerton wreaking havoc in front of the London cage, Jesse Tottle slipped a nifty cross-crease pass to captain Andrew Fenn. Fenner made no mistake as he one-timed the pass past the outstretched glove of Lycett to give the Stars a 2-1 lead heading into recess.
Fenner completed the scoring for the Stars at 14.59 of the final period. Jesse Tottle neatly executed one of his favourite plays from the right offensive face off dot by tipping the puck through the legs of the opposing centreman immediately off the face-off. After retrieving the puck, Tottle appeared uncertain whether he was going to pass or shoot the puck, so he did both by passing the puck London goaltender Lycett. Fortunately for Stars' fans, Lycett seemed equally perplexed on the play and could not control the puck. Fenn quickly pounced on the loose puck for a 3-1 Stars lead.
Thanks to the solid goaltending of Dan Black, who seemed to stop Knights shots in bunches, the Jr. Stars were able to maintain their two goal lead and skate away with a well-earned 3-1 victory. The win moved St. Thomas four points ahead of the Knights, although London still had four games in hand.
The return match was held on Sunday night at Medway arena, with both teams sporting different goaltenders.
Things did not start well for the Stars as the Jr. Knights drew first blood in the first minute of play. On a two-one break for the Knights, Ben Whiteside's attempted cross ice pass deflected off the stick of a Stars' defender and caromed slowly through the legs of Greyson Tottle.
However, the Jr. Stars tied the game at 6:09 of the first period. After some excellent work down low by Andrew Fenn, he spotted linemate Will Strong cruising through the slot and fed him with a perfect pass. Showing his Reggie Dunlop-like veteran savy, Will calmly wristed a low blocker shot past Knights' netminder, Dylan Keany to tie the game at 1-1.
Just three minutes into the second period, an unfortunate turnover by the Stars in their own zone resulted in an easy tap-in goal for Justin Frehner and a 2-1 London lead. But with just over a minute to play in the period, and enjoying a two-man advantage, Stevie Ray Drew deflected the point shot of Ryan Vandenbroek to send the two teams into the intermission tied at 2-2.
Rookie Jesse Tottle, not heretofore known as a goal scorer but who had nonetheless scored seven goals in his last seven games, picked an opportune time to continue his hot streak. With 6:03 left in the third period, Jesse swatted at a loose puck in the London zone as it deflected off a Knights defender. Totts' shot one-hopped into the low left side of the net past Keany for what turned out to be the winning goal in a Stars 3-2 win.
After a shakey start, Rogie Tottle made some remarkable saves in the final three minutes to preserve the win and keep the Jr. Stars record unblemished in the new year.
Constellations: The offensively reluctant T.J. Turley matched a season-high with two shots on goal on Friday night.....the Jr.Stars were fully deserving of both of their wins against the Knights but would not have done so without their usual outstanding goaltending.....Brodie Dunley was robbed of a second goal on Friday night as his third period deflection was erroneously ruled a high stick....it is not a coincidence that the Jr. Stars have taken fewer penalties than their opponent in almost every win this season, including the two most recent ones against the Jr. Knights....the Stars have now set the personnel on their two power-play units, with Taylor Emmerton and Stevie Ray Drew doing most of the dirty work in front of the opposition net....the OMHA playdown tournament will take place in less than two weeks, hosted by the Riverside Rangers.....two teams will move on to a second-round series......up next for the Stars is a Sunday afternoon game at Stronach arena against the Nationals, who a looking to pass the London Bandits for first place in the Alliance.