Nov 20, 2011 | Dan Culbert | 288 views
99ERS Earn Tie With First Place Knights
Following a poor effort against the last place Woodstock team, the Contractors Rental Supply Midget 99ers rebounded with likely their best game of the season in earning a hard fought 3-3 tie with the first place London Knights.
Coming into the game the Knights had only allowed 14 goals in their first 12 games of the season so when they score first they normally skate away with a win. That was not the case this week as they came into Brantford looking to improve on their 10-1-1 record and ran into a determined home squad.
Despite holding a 3-1 advantage in powerplays, the Knights were foiled by Ben Beechey in net resulting in a scoreless first period. The Knights opened the scoring at 8:37 of the period as the London team broke in 3 on 2 and with a hard drive wide were able to get the puck to the net and tuck the rebound past the Brantford goalie. The 99ers answered back less than a minute later when Jamie Kelly snapped one in from the low slot on a great feed from Matt General, with Brent Smolarz picking up the second assist. The team may have let up a bit, which lead to London going on top 2-1 with 6:17 to play when a lazy effort in front of their own net allowed a rebound to go to an unmarked London player who banged it home. As mentioned, this is usually the start of another London win and it didn't look good when the 99ers provided London with another powerplay with just over 3 minutes to go in the period, but the home team had something to say about that trend with Beechey again shutting the door on a couple of good chances. Brantford was then given an opportunity of their own when a London defenseman took a crosschecking penalty, but this was wasted when a Brantford player took an unsportsmanlike penalty in the offensive zone just 8 seconds later eliminating this chance. However, playing 4 on 4, a strong individual effort by Ray Munro allowed him to pick up the puck from a scramble off the rush and flip it past a surprised netminder to even the score with only 17 seconds left in the period as Stefan Dedominicis and RJ Huszczo picked up the assists.
The home team took another penalty early in the third, and this time the Knights capitalized and for the third time in the game the Knights took the lead, this time just 4 minutes gone. The lead held up until late in the period when with just under two minutes to go, the 99ers made a fast transition out of their own zone as Scott Smid started things off with a quick pass which turned into a 3 on 2 finishing with Jesse Stremler taking a pass from Andrew Lombardi and firing it home with only 1:51 to go. The two teams both had chances to win it late but good stops at both ends left the game tied. London was 1 for 7 on the PP while Brantford was 0 for 2.
Brantford improves to 2-7-2, while London moves to 10-1-2. Next up for the 99ers is the Waterloo Memorial Tourney.