Nov 12, 2011 | Dan Culbert | 276 views
Spirited Third Period Not Enough for 99ers
Despite a spirited third period effort, the Contractors Rental Supply Midgets dropped a 4-2 decision to the North London Nationals on Wednesday. Trailing 2-1 after 1, and 4-1 after two, the home town boys put on a display of physical hockey in the third which saw them outwork and out chance the London team for the period and resulted in the 99ers scoring the only goal. Tonight it was too little too late, but again there are flashes of good hockey being displayed that would allow the team to compete if it can be performed on a more consistent basis.
Allowing too many unforced turn-overs and taking too many undisciplined penalties again lead to the team falling behind early in the game. Brantford found itself down 2-0 just over midway through he first period as a 4 minute head check penalty lead to a London PP goal less than 3 minutes in, and then a blown defensive coverage after a bad defensive zone give away allowed London to double their lead. Andrew Lombardi got the home team on the board with less than 2 minutes left in the period on a nice rush after the team broke out in transition with a nice pass from Jesse Stremler sending him into the London zone where he fired a shot from the top of the right circle which beat the London goalie to the glove side. London came out hard at the start of the second period and it seemed the Brantford boys were not ready to win battles as the Nationals completely dominated the period but could not score. For a while it looked like the 99ers were going to be able to escape going down 3-1 but another bad turnover lead to a penalty which only added to the London pressure. Less than a minute after a solid penalty kill the London team scored 2 goals 37 seconds apart to open up a 4-1 lead. The first was another defensive giveaway, and the second was a mental mistake which left players out of position and allowed the visitors an easy one.
In the third, the home team came out hitting and the added energy was enough to tilt the ice for most of the period. The 99ers had several scoring chances and were finally rewarded with a goal by Tyler Schaeffer at the end of a dominating shift by he and his linemates Mike Gotkowski and Larry Hill, with RJ Huszczo and Jacob Ferreira paired up on the back. Schaeffer was able to slip the puck over the line as he and Hill drove the net hard with the puck crossing the line just before a big pile-up knocked the net off. The 99ers kept it coming as they fired puck after puck at the Nationals goalie, and even though several went through screens and were unseen, they were not rewarded with any more goals. The pressure came to an end as did the chance to come back when Brantford again took a lazy penalty when a 99er player took an out of position hooking penalty in the offensive end. This was compounded when the 99ers took another double minor to go down 5 on 3 and spent the last few minutes of the game killing off a London powerplay.
Next up for the 99ers is a road game in Woodstock on Sunday.