On Thursday November 28, the Atom Southwest Bullets hockey team of the LMLL, with a 5-2-1 record entering the game, completed a home and home series sweep against the Mount Brydges Cougars Red team with a record of 2-6-0
entering the game, by trouncing them 9-3 in Bothwell. The game began rather tentatively by both sides as much of the opening two minutes was played in the neutral zone area with the first shot not being recorded until the game was about a minute and a half into the first period. Peter Katsoulakos (#16) opened the scoring in the first when back-checking, he picked up a loose puck at centre ice near the right boards, circled, and as he crossed the MBCR blue line skated in around the defender to the outside right boards and fired a rising wrist shot off the far post for the 1-0 bullet lead with 5:59 remaining in the first period. Braxton Haggith (#8) picked up the lone assist on the play. This goal sparked the bullet team in what was mostly a battle for possession game affair thus far with both teams chasing the puck around the neutral zone area with few shots being recorded on either side. On the ensuing face-off after the Katsoulakos goal, Owen Dewild (#2) skated with the puck right off the centre ice face-off circle through a surprised MBCR team and scored the bullet second goal unassisted just 6 seconds after the opening goal. Just 1:44 later, Dewild, parked in front of the MBCR goal received a nice feed from Dylan Henry (#40) and slid the puck under the pads of a sprawling MBCR goalie for his second goal of the night and a commanding 3-0 bullet lead with 4:09 remaining in the first period. Sawyer Watson (#36) also got an assist on the play for his hard work along the boards fighting off two defenders allowing the play to develop. Haggith scored with 3:52 remaining in the period to make it 4-0 bullets when he fooled the goalie with a nice deke after he was sent in on a breakaway from a nice feed off the centre ice right boards from Katsoulakos from inside the bullet blue line. Wyatt Johnson (#12) also picked up an assist for his hard work on defence. The period ended with the bullets enjoying a 4-0 lead heading into the second period as the MBCR team did not even record a shot on goal in the opening period against the bullet’s 9 shots against the opposition goalie. Jacob Smith (#30) was surely pleased with the play of his team in front of him as he was having another easy night in goal.
The MBCR team came out with a little more fire in the second period and surprised a napping bullet team with a quick breakaway goal just 41 seconds into the second frame to make it a 4-1 game. Smith made a nice save as he snapped his right pad out to make the initial stop on the breakaway but could not corral the rebound on the second attempt by the same shooter as the bullet defence was slow to get back to thwart the play. The bullet team responded with a quick goal of their own, just 12 seconds later to make it 5-1 for the home side, when Dewild, again off the ensuing face-off, after the MBCR goal, picked up the loose puck and skated in on the opposition goal and potted his third of the night. Henry picked up his second assist of the game on the play. The rest of the second period was sloppy and choppy with a lot of loose puck play in the neutral ice zone. The bullet team closed out the scoring in the second period to make it 6-1 when they finished a goal mouth scramble in front of the MBCR team goaltender when Watson shovelled the puck past the goal line with 1:20 remaining in the second. William Lambrecht (#10), for his hard work along the boards, and Dewild picked up assists on the play. The MBCR team outshot the bullet team 6-3 in the second but were outscored 2-1 by the more opportunistic bullet team.
The third period saw the bullet team getting away from the discipline that has brought them success this year as they were guilty of 15 turnovers in the neutral and defensive zone ice areas in this period alone. Fortunately, their speed allowed them to recover from most of these mistakes and managed to maintain a 12-7 shots on goal advantage against their opposition in the third period. The MBCR team came out with a more physical presence in the third resulting in a power play opportunity for the bullet team when an opposing player was sent off for 2 minutes with a slashing penalty just 3:20 into the period. Watson ended up scoring a power play goal, with just 13 seconds remaining in the penalty and 9:53 remaining in the period to make it a 7-1 hockey game. Haggith picked up an assist on the play. The MBCR team scored with 6:31 remaining to make it 7-2 as the bullet team went into defence mode for the remainder of the game. Many in the building thought the play on this goal should have been blown dead as the bullet net minder, Smith, on his knees, had smothered the puck, holding it long-enough for a face-off. However, the referee had put away his whistle allowing the MBCR forward to keep poking at the puck under Smith until it was shovelled into the net with Smith on top of it leading to the MBCR team’s second goal of the game. A neutral zone give away by the bullet team led to an opposition forward picking up a loose puck, skating in across the bullet blue line into the slot and sliding a shot past Smith with 2:48 remaining to close the gap to 7-3. The bullet team got that one back when Henry scored with 1:33 remaining, to make it 8-3, on a nice wrist shot to the far side of the net after he was sent in along the right wing on a nice heads up feed from Watson from his side of centre. Haggith closed out the scoring for the bullet team with his second of the night when he skated in on a two on one break and using Katsoulakos as the decoy scored on a nice move in front of the net. Ethan Keating (#6) picked up an assist on the play. The final score was 9-3 in favour of the bullet team who outshot their opposition 24-13 making the most of their chances. Evan Demaiter (#26), Morgan Hutson (#24), Wyatt Johnson (#12), Owen King (#22) , and William Lambrecht (#10) were a tower of strength on the ice as they battled hard along the boards against opposition players and continued to keep the puck away from Smith when defending and kept the puck inside the opposition blue line when attacking. This team continues to do Southwest Middlesex proud. The SWB team is now 6-2-1 with 13 points. The team will face a difficult stretch of games this month as they will be playing against some of the top tier teams in their division and will need to focus and prepare well for these games. They will need all the fan support they can generate to help them win these games. Come out and be rewarded in some of the finest minor hockey you will see from a young energetic group of players. The team plays their next game on Saturday December 7, at the North Middlesex Arena at 11:00am against the North Middlesex Jr. Stars and on Sunday December 8, at the Gemini Centre in Strathroy at 7:30pm against the Strathroy Jr. Rockets (Red) team.
Article by Sam Katsoulakas