Nov 19, 2012 | cstaels | 1401 views
SOUTHWEST BULLETS PLAY 11 GAMES
At the midway point of the regular season approaches, the Southwest Bullets Midget Rep team, sponsored by Allan Heating, is leading the Shamrock league with 20 points while Belmont Rangers are just 1 point behind. As the only undefeated team, the Bullets' record is 9 wins and 2 ties. Sharing the goaltender duties, Jacob Moore and Matt Kuipers have allowed the fewest goals of any team with just 18 goals against in 11 games.
On Sunday Nov. 18, 2012, the Bullets handed the Lambton Shores Predators their second straight loss in three days. Earlier in the week, the Preds were also undefeated and even with the Bullets after 10 games. After a 6-2 loss to Petrolia on Thursday and a 4-2 decision to the Bullets on Sunday night, the Preds drop into a 3rd place tie with Dorchester Dragons behind Southwest and Belmont.
With 4:38 left in the first, David Vergeers won the draw back to Jacob Johnson on the right point. Johnson relayed to Tyson Kulich on the left side and Vergeers positioned himself to tip in Kulich's shot to give the Bullets the early lead. Three minutes later, Jordan Staels cruised behind the net and dropped a beautiful pass out to Vergeers who made no mistake as the Bullets went up 2-0. With one minute left in the second, Vergeers set up Brody Faircloth for the 3-0 lead. Although the Predators dominated the Bullets for most of the game, they were unable to solve Kuipers until a powerplay goal in the last minute of the second period. After two periods, the Bullets took a 3-1 lead to the dressing room.
The Predators swarmed like hornets around the Southwest net for rest of the game outshooting the home team 20-4 in the third period alone. At 7:24, the Preds capitalized on a bad breakout pass and scored to make it 3-2. They continued their full court press as Kuipers made some stellar saves to keep the Bullets in the game. The frustrated Predators took two penalties late in the game but nearly scored on a shorthanded effort. Vergeers completed his hat trick with just 12 second left in the game as he lofted a shot from his own goal line into the empty net to secure the 4-2 win. Later, Vergeers admitted that he was just trying to ice the puck and didn't know the goalie had left the net. The Bullets were outshot 48-21 in front of the hometown crowd but extended their undefeated record to 11 games.
The Bullets play in Belmont next Sunday as they try to extend their undefeated record and retain their lead over the rest of the 18 team Shamrock league. In the inaugural season of the new Southwest Bullets Minor Hockey Association, there are 16 players from Glencoe, Bothwell, West Lorne, Melbourne, Wardsville, Petrolia and some rural areas on the Midget Rep team.