Dec 18, 2011 | Dan Culbert | 309 views
Another Quick Start Not Enough This Time
Even after a long trip to Sarnia, the Contractors Rental Supply Midgets were ready to go when the puck hit the ice on Saturday. Although it was not a first shift goal, the team responded with another quick start as Dakota Culbert put the team up with a goal less than 3 minutes into the game. Stefan DeDominicis, made a pass to Culbert cutting across the neutral zone which allowed him to use speed to take the defenseman wide and hold him off long enough to get a shot off which beat the goalie to the stick side.
Insert DeDominicis
The midgets kept the momentum until their habit of taking bad penalties and mental lapses came back to bite them. Less than 30 seconds after the goal a double minor penalty put the team down and the Sting capitalized 29 seconds into the man advantage when a positioning error left a Sarnia player wide open to take an easy pass for the goal. The team held firm not allowing a goal on the second penalty or on a third which put the team down 5 on 3 for nearly a minute but lost the momentum they held early in the game. The home team then scored two goals in the last 5 minutes the first by outworking the 99ers in for loose pucks a couple of times, and the last by a bad turn-over in the offensive zone coupled with a poor effort on the backcheck allowing the Sting player who was trailing the play a clear path to the net and a goal from about 15 feet.
In the second, another undisciplined penalty due to a loss of body position, gave the Sting an early advantage, however, this time they returned the favour committing an infraction on the PP putting things back to even. The game remained close until just over 4 minutes to go in the period when on a harmless 2 on 2 rush, the Brantford forward stopped skating at the blueline allowing his check to enter the zone creating a 2 on 1 and seconds later take a pass to score on a helpless goalie to make it 4-1. Brantford caught a bit of luck and was able to close the gap to 4-2 when the Sting goalie misplayed the puck on a Ray Munro backhand and it found it's way through him as Andrew Lombardi drew the assist with 92 seconds to go in the period.
In the third the 99ers were unable get any closer as penalties again killed momentum and Sarnia scored a meaningless goal with just over a minute to play when a Brantford defenseman attempted to do too much himself, turned the puck over and it ended up in the net making the final 5-2.