Oct 24, 2011 | Dan Culbert | 293 views
99ERS Break Into Win Column
Ryan Gagne lead the way offensively as the Midget 99ers came away with their first win of the season. Gagne's 3 goals were the difference in the 4-2 home ice win over the Oakridge Aeros.
Brantford opened the scoring only 35 seconds into the game when Mitch McIsaac's lead pass hit Dakota Culbert in stride at the Oakridge blueline allowing him to split the defense and cruise in alone to give the home team an early lead. Scott Smid and Blaise Burtinck went "D" to "D" then a quick lead pass to send Gagne in alone on an almost identical play less than a minute later and he too made no mistake as he beat the Oakridge goalie for a quick 2-0 lead. Brantford held the edge in play for the majority of the period against a short benched Oakridge team but a gaff by the Brantford goalie allowed the Areos to score a PP goal to close the gap to 1 after one.
Brantford extended it's lead in the second as Gagne's power play goal finished off a nice 3 way passing play with Culbert and Jesse Stremler, and then he tipped home his 3rd when Smid sent one at the net to make it 4-1 at about the midway point of the period. Even thought the score remained the same after 2, the 99ers seemed to settle in and sit back, allowing the Aeros to gain some momentum.
The 99ers started the 3rd on the PP, but were sloppy with the puck and did not take advantage of the situation to extend their lead and then took a double minor of their own to end the advantage and the carry-over provided the visitors with a PP of their own which further added jump to their legs. They kept good pressure on the home team and capitalized 15 seconds after the 99ers returned to full strength to close the gap to 4-2. The home squad then fell into old habits and took another 8 third period penalties allowing the Areos to continue to roll power play after power play for the majority of the period. Oakridge was provide with a great chance to close to within one when they were awarded a penalty shot with just under 8 minutes to play, but Connor Curtin stood his ground to hold the lead at 2. The parade to the penalty box continued and when the penalties stacked up on top of each other, it resulted in a sustained 5 on 3 for the final 4 mins and 34 seconds of the game. Curtin came up with several big stops and was aided by two posts as the visitors did everything but score during this time and the home team held on for the win.