Sunday night in St Thomas, the Midget AE Stars put forth one of their best efforts to date, only to see that effort end in a loss to their rivals from Port Stanley.
The Midget AE Stars started out with some great rushes and
excellent scoring chance thanks in part to some solid puck movement by our defense. With the help of Pierce Lawrence, asked to
help out the back end due to some injuries and suspensions, the defensive corps
did a great job of limiting the Jr. Sailors to only 4 shots on goal. The Jr. Sailors got on the board first though
when Matt Martyn of the Sailors drove down the right wing to score his first of
two goals. The celebration was short
lived as only 33 seconds later the Midget AE Stars scored to tie the game. Derek Smith was wide open at the front of the
net and buried a beautiful one time shot with assists going to Thomas Cosgrove
and Aidan Bilyea. The Midget AE Stars
gained confidence from that goal as Matthew Roberts walked out from the corner
just over a minute later and went 5-hole on the Sailors net minder. The lone
assist went to Bailey Douglas on the play.
The period ended with the Stars holding a 2-1 lead, out shooting their
opponents 8-4 and putting plenty of pressure on the team from Port Stanley.
The second period was relatively back and forth and a 14-13
shot total favoring the Stars, including some excellent scoring chances for
both teams. Brennan Agius was solid in net, making several saves on some cross
ice passes. At 8:54 of the second period
though, a seeing-eye point shot through a screen found its way into the top
corner of the Stars net and the game was tied at two. Once again though the Stars pushed on and
only 1:44 later Aiden Bilyea scored on a feed from Don Jakubowski to put the
score at 3-2. Brennan Agius made a
spectacular glove save on a cannonading drive from just inside the blue line
late in the period to hold the lead.
The third period was an anxious one as the Midget AE Stars
started slowly and the Sailors began to press harder. Just under three minutes
into the final stanza Cody Howard finished off a gorgeous pass from Matthew
Roberts to give the Stars a 4-2 lead.
Then, the wheels began to fall off the Stars bus as the Sailors scored
on Mike McCarthy’s second of the game and with a high powered rush by Matt
Martyn at 6:54, they tied the game at 4-4.
The Stars seemed to be losing faith and were barely holding on as the
Sailors continued to press. The nail in
the coffin came with just 15 seconds left to play, as Adi Wardini capitalized
during a scramble in front of the Stars net, giving the Sailors the 5-4
victory.
When the Midget AE Stars play with confidence and team
spirit they can compete with any team they face, but have yet to play three full
periods of hockey this year. If they can
keep their feet moving, the passes crisp and play well within their own end,
who knows what this team can achieve.
Their next test comes on Monday night against the high flying Mt Brydges
Cougars in Komoka. This game is a build-up to the Midget AE Stars home
tournament next weekend in St Thomas beginning on Friday afternoon.