Undisciplined play, combined with poor and selfish decisions once again came back to kill any chance of success for the Contractors Rental Supply Midget A team.
Insert Ferreira
In the first game, although out-shot for the game, the CRS Midgets played a
tight first period, and then jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Jesse
Stremler late in the period with Brent Smolarz and Stefan DeDominicis picking up
assists. A bad penalty away from the puck gave Tillsonburg an opportunity to get
on the board and it took only 23 seconds before they capitalized and tied the
game at 1. The 99er were then given an opportunity of their own 3 minutes later,
and were on the verge of a 5 on 3 advantage when another poor decision to
retaliate on a delayed penalty cost the team the opportunity to take the lead
again. Then playing 4 on 4 hockey, and with only 6 minutes to play, another
mental meltdown sent a forward to the box for the remainder of the game for
shooting the puck away well after a whistle leaving the team with only 6
forwards. Despite a conversation of no D pinching in the last 4 minutes, a
gamble on a puck at the offensive blue-line provided a 2 on 1 and resulted in
the game winning goal being scored with 36 seconds to play. Brantford was 0 for
3 on the PP while Tillsonburg was 1 for 5
In game 2, despite a slow start
where the Thorold team dominated for the first 3 minutes and did everything but
score on several occasions, until they finally did break the ice and took a 1-0
lead into the break. Thorold started the second, on a powerplay which carried
over from a double minor with 35 seconds to go in the first, and just after the
first of these was killed off, another undisciplined play away from the puck put
the 99ers down 5 on 3. Thorold took no time in making Brantford pay for this
scoring a minute into the 5 on 3 beating Beechey from the slot. While the rest
of the penalty was killed off, the 99ers were not able to get back on track and
generate any offense, and the Blackhawks scored an even strength goal less than
a minute later. Mike Gotkowski scored an unassisted goal with just under 4
minutes to play to cut the deficit to 3-1 but just as the period ended, a hit
from behind call killed the momentum and put the 99ers down to start the third.
This also again cost the team another forward for the remainder of the game and
forced them to go with 6 while attempting to climb back from a deficit. Thorold
scored early in this advantage which took most of the hope of a comeback away
and added another midway through the third to lock up the 5-1 win. Brantford was
0 for 1 on the PP while Thorold was 2 for 5.
The team got a huge break
with a Tillsonburg shutout of Pelham and a Pelham win over Thorold giving the
team a shot of advancing with a win in there third game.
The talk in the
room was about discipline, with the team being short handed, and only 1 AP
player available to make the trip to the third game, everyone knew taking on for
the team if needed, and not allowing Pelham to operate on the PP were the keys
to success and moving on in the tournament. However, as has been the case all
season, while the buy in is from some, this type of play is beyond the
dedication level of most of the players in the majority of the games. After a
scoreless first where both teams had chances to score and only 1 penalty each
was called, the second started differently. While Pelham took 2 minors in the
period, Brantford had to play short handed for nearly the entire last 7 minutes
of the period due to 2 double minors all taken by the same player, and which
even carried over into the third. Although the 99ers were successful in killing
these off most of these, the Pelham team got on the board with a PP marker with
a minute to play. During a brief time at even strength, there were few chances
to generate scoring chances as the players attempted to regroup and the period
wound down with the CRS Midgets trailing 1-0. After killing off the remainder of
the penalties which had carried over to start the third, the 99ers had a chance
to get back into the game with a PP of their own and had numerous chances to
score, including three pint blank chances that either hit something or went
wide. Then with just over half of the period gone and the team gaining momentum
on another PP, the stupidity struck again. This time as the puck was dumped deep
into the zone Brantford zone, a retaliation penalty at center ice nearly 90 feet
away from the play killed the comeback attempt. Along with this call, came an
unsportsmanlike misconduct and a disputing a call suspension taking two more
players off the already short bench. Pelham scored a 5 on 3 PP goal on a
backdoor rebound to go up 2-0 and then as the teams exchanged penalties near the
end of the game, the 99ers were forced to pull the goalie even though short
handed in an attempt to score. The Panthers then added an empty net PP goal to
close it out for the 3-0 win and eliminate the 99ers from the
tourney.
Brantford was 0 for 6 on the PP while Pelham was 3 for
10.
Next up is a return to league play with a home game Jan 4