Oct 04, 2013 | dvandenbroek | 312 views
Home Opener Verses the Bandits
St. Thomas Junior Stars Midget A team came out from their first home game against the always tough London Bandits with a tie. With a short bench of 12 skaters that included a couple of call ups put forth an excellent effort and did well to end the game in a 2-2 draw.
The boys came out hard looking for a better effort than their previous game and it was evident in the early goings that they where hungry to get a win in front of their home town fans. Strong fore checking by Josh Reda created a turnover deep in the oppositions end and a quick shot by Reda left a juicy rebound and Josh Butler made no mistake in burying the puck in the back of the net to take an early 1-0 lead. Although outshot 13-9 in the first frame the boys held the lead going into the second period.
The second period started to look like the previous game with the boys struggling to clear the puck from our own end and the Bandits carrying the majority of the play. The Bandits manage to score 2 goals, the first one had their winger crashing towards the net sliding in past our goalie on the short side and the second was after a good save by Rogie and the rebound was quickly pounced on to make the score 2-1. Reda drew an interference penalty late in the second and the power play unit has a couple of quality chances to breathe some life back into the boys before the break after the second period.
The boys came out for the third period looking for the equalizer but again the pressing Bandits made it difficult for the Stars to muster up any threat. Once again Rogie stood tall in goal giving his team a chance to come back in the game. Ryan Vandenbroek drew an elbowing call with 5 minutes left in the game and the Stars had the chance they needed to not this game up. Good puck movement on this power play ended up with a quick pass by Reda from behind the net to Vandenbroek who pinched in to bang in a bar down beauty. Robert Shaw also was awarded an assist on the play. Good defensive coverage for the last 4 minutes secured the tie in what turned out to be a successful effort by the boys on this night.
Give good credit to the referee's for letting both teams play and only handing out 6 minutes on 3 separate penalties in the entire game. The boys will being looking for their first win when they face the London Nationals on Saturday night with back to back home game appearances.