OMHA playdowns for the Atom Shamrock hockey team, sponsored by Gary Graham Transport, have started with round robin action against Thamesford and West Lorne. The series got off to a rough start with 2 losses in the first 2 games.
On Saturday January 12th the team travelled to
Thamesford. Short 2 players out sick,
losing one due to injury part way through the game and playing shorthand for
most of the game because of penalties Southwest came out on the losing end of
the battle. The final score was 6-2 for
the Attack. Goal scorers for Southwest
were Tanner Doxtator and Elijah Barnes.
On Saturday January 19th the team played host to
the West Lorne Comets. It was a
disappointing game and in the first shift the Comets took the team by surprise and
notched the puck into the Southwest net. It went downhill from there. In spite of a final score of 7-0 for the
Comets Southwest was able to set up several scoring opportunities but they were
not able to find home in the West Lorne net.
A week later they headed across the 401 to play the Comets
once again. The team shook off the
previous 2 games and came out determined to prove that they were a force to
reckon with. The teams would play a
tight first and second period with neither team able to find the mesh until the
last 3 minutes remaining in the second. Southwest’s Cooper Aubertin put them in the
lead after grabbing a rebound from Doxtator.
Braxton Haggith also received an assist on the goal. The Comets quickly
responded 25 seconds later to tie the game up.
Third period action saw the teams push hard and with five minutes
remaining West Lorne scored one to take the lead. Southwest retaliated 2 minutes later when
Ethan Carruthers fired the puck from the top of the circle and the goalie
didn’t even see it coming. Feeding the puck to him was Jacob Kelly and Shane
DePelsmaeker. The last minutes were
tense with Southwest pulling their goaltender for the man advantage. The puck remained in the West Lorne zone for
the rest of the game and with time winding down Southwest put on extreme
pressure but the Comet’s netminder turned aside all their chances. Final score was 2-2. Tyson Hesketh showed
strong goaltending and the team also played great defense in front of their end
and their offensive game created a number of great chances.
On Sunday January 26th the team played host to
the Thamesford Attack. Once again Southwest
came out determined and ready to skate. They
started the scoring in the first when Carruthers notched the puck past the
Attack netminder after receiving a feed from Charlie Pierce and Jack
McAlpine. The period ended on a tie at
1. The teams seemed to be evenly matched and second and third period action saw
great teamwork and amazing passing for Southwest. It worked as Southwest notched 2 more into
the Attack net in the second period. Goal
scorers were Pierce and Aubertin and assists go to McAlpine, DePelsmaeker,
Doxtator and Barnes. Third period action
saw Southwest shorthanded and Pierce got the puck and skated hard and fast on a
breakaway to the Thamesford net and once again found home to get his third
point of the game. The third also
found Southwest in more penalty trouble
with two in the “sin bin” however strong penalty killing, shot blocking and
strong goaltending foiled the Attack’s efforts.
The final score was 4-1 for Southwest.
Ethan Peixoto was strong and confident between the pipes.
Next hockey action will be Tuesday night to play a
round-robin tie breaker game against West Lorne to determine who moves on the
OMHA playdowns.