Jan 22, 2012 | Dan Culbert | 1173 views
99ers Move Past Stratford With Win
Despite facing the challenge of moving up the standings passing the team you are playing, and couple this with the fact the team was playing without 5 regulars, the Contractors Rental Supply 99ers topped Stratford 3-1 on a rare Saturday afternoon tilt. Putting on a clinic of playing a team game, the only blemish being a return to trash talking and undisciplined penalties which provided the visitors with free offence as a result of 40 minutes of penalties to 10 the team moved past Stratford with the win.
Insert Gotkowski
Dressing only 12 skaters and starting Ben Beechey in net, the 99ers once again took advantage of a quick start when Stefan DeDominicis pressured the Warrior`s defenseman into a bad turn-over and seconds later, Jesse Stremler pounced on a RJ Huszczo`s rebound to open the scoring only 26 seconds into the game. Stratford pushed back immediately taking advantage of the 99ers taking the first 3 penalties of the game. Beechey was instrumental in holding the lead as the 99ers defended hard, won puck battles and used body position, and a hungry backcheck to cause turnovers and quickly transition into their only offense chances for the next 10 minutes. There was good pace throughout the period with both teams earning chances only to be thwarted by solid goaltending. The next goal didn`t come until past the midway point of the frame when the Warriors were able to turn some quick puck movement on the left side of the net into a chance that found it`s way past Beechey. Then less than a minute after the goal, the 99ers took another penalty, this time the backcheck being too aggressive as they were called while breaking up a 1 on 3 rush during a Stratford line change but again killed off this 4th penalty of the period and it ended 1-1.
In the second, it looked as though the penalties may even out somewhat, as Stratford was called for an infraction, but before the whistle was blown on the delay, the 99ers were able to get the goalie out in favour of a 6th attacker and were able to capitalize when DeDominicis walked out from below the goal-line but instead of taking a low percentage bad angled shot, found Matt General on the backdoor and he buried a shot into the open side for giving the 99ers their second lead. Two minutes later, the Warriors were again called for taking down a 99er attacking their net, but despite good pressure and even better puck movement, the lead remained at 1. The penalties continued to impact the offense as the 99ers were forced to defend again as they took the next two. with Just under 5 minutes to go the visitors were again called and the 99ers were able to capitalize on this, their third opportunity when Mike Gotkowski was able to put one past the Stratford keeper. Huszczo, and AP player Brayden Hill, picked up assists on the play. Even though this turned out to be the last goal of the game, it was by no means the last opportunity.
In the third, the 99ers were called for 6 more infractions to only 1 for Stratford, including two 5 on 3`s and another at the end of the game allowing the visitors the opportunity to get the goalie out for a 6 on 4 and where Beechey was called on to hold the lead and not allow the Warriors to gain any thought of a comeback. With the number of penalties called, combined with the duration and overlap, it caused every player to be involved in the penalty kill and they responded well.
Next up for the 99ers is a trip to London to take on the 1st place Knights.