Feb 06, 2015 | Dan Culbert | 1169 views
Pelham Silver Stick Tourney
The first game of the regional Silver Stick Tourney was a great place to blank an opponent as the Mortgage Financial 99ers blanked the Dorchester Dragons in Welland. Kevin Dawdy was strong in net earning the shut-out and Zak Culbert's 3rd period goal stood up as the winner as the team opened up with the 1-0 win. Andrew Brown earned the only assist on the goal.
Playing their second game of the day, the game started much the same as the first as Dawdy held the Thorold Blackhawks scoreless through the first two periods keeping the game at 0-0. A couple of mental lapses resulted in a Blackhawk left alone in front twice in the third, as they sandwiched their goals around on by Matt Adkins to built a 2-1 lead all in the space of one minute with 9 minutes to play in the period. Two more goals closed out the scoring as the game slipped away from the local boys. Nathan foster drew the assist on the goal.
The low scoring continued in game 3 as the 99ers faced the home town Welland Tigers. Welland opened the scoring half way through the first then following a scoreless second Will Smith evened things up with an unassisted goal with just over a minute gone in the third. A very questionable missed call while on the Power Play allowed the Tigers to find the back of the net and take the 2-1 lead 4 minutes later which would hold up the rest of the way.
Despite a 1-2 record, the solid defensive play giving up only 6 goals in the 3 games, allowed the 99ers to get through to a quarter-final game against St. Mary's. The 99ers came out flat and were outshot badly in the first, and without some solid play by Jake Gooder, the game could have been over instead of only being down 1-0 when the period ended. The team rallied and scored 2 before the period was half gone. Andrew Brown scored at the 9:00 minute mark with assists from Matt Adkins and Andrew Kitchen, then added his second to give the 99ers the lead at 6:32 as Adkins and Connor Vorwald drew assists. St. Mary's were outplayed in the second but were able to slip one past Gooder 46 seconds later to tie it, and then again with 14 seconds to go in the frame to take the lead into the break. A fourth goal at the 7:07 mark made it look like the game was over, but the never say die 99ers came back with 3:54 to go as Jonah Ferreira put in his own rebound with assists going to Justin Malcolm and Adkins with his 3 of the game. Pulling the goalie and putting a ton of pressure on, the boys had the puck in the crease twice in the dying seconds of the game, but could not get it across the line and there efforts to force O/T fell just short.