Oct 04, 2013 | dvandenbroek | 196 views
Season Opener
The Midget A Stars open their season this past Wednesday against the Sarnia Sting in Sarnia, and the result was not what they expected before entering their barn. With a few missing players due to injuries and early suspensions from preseason games our depleted bench came in second place in a lop sided tilt.
It seemed in the start of the game we were in for a barn burner and as it turns out we may have wished for the barn to burn down. A couple of early power plays didn't yield any goals but provided both teams with some early chances. The tides turned against our Stars when the Sting scored 2 unanswered goals at the 9 and 7 minute marks. Thanks to the strong play of starting net minder Grayson Tottle who stopped a flurry of 6 quality shots while killing a 5 on 3 power play, the end of the first could have been worse than a 2-0 deficit.
5 minutes into the second a breath of like came back to our boys when a statically placed shot from defenseman Dane Jacoletti hit the back glass and bounce of the rear end of the Sarnia goaltender. A turnover in our own end late in the 3rd gave the Sting their 2 goal lead and the frustration started to show. With a half minute left in the second frame a fight broke out and one of our players along with a member from the Sting where ejected from the game. Again thanks to strong goal tending we headed to the dressing room after the second only down 3-1 after being out shot 27-14.
The third period started with our team successfully killing off a 5 on 3 Sting power play, and moments later seeing our best chance of the 3rd period with Josh Reda on a partial breakaway only to be hooked down before getting off a quality shot. With the boys setting up for the power play, a golden chance to tighten up this game a give away in the Sarnia end resulted in a short handed goal to put the Sting up by 3 and suck whatever life our team may have had left. It was clear at this point that boys simply wanted this one to end. Josh Nesbitt came in mid way through the third to give starting goalie Grayson a much deserved rest and managed to stop all the shots he faced for the remainder of the game.
The boys will be looking for redemption Friday night when they face the London Bandits in their home opener.