The Minor Bantam Chiefs swept a home-and-home series with the
Lambton Jr. Sting on Sunday with a hard fought 3-1 victory. This completed a very successful weekend
where the boys played 3 games, including 2 road games, and collected 6 points
for their effort.
After all these games, not only are the players tired, but I am running out of things to say (lucky for you!)
Sunday’s game felt much like Saturday’s contest. It seemed as though the Chiefs were controlling the play, yet the scoreboard didn’t show it.
For the first time this season (at least in regular season contests) the Chiefs scored a first period goal and, also for the first time, the first goal was not scored by Curtis A. Today the honor went to Ashton S. who finished of a 2-on-1 after receiving a nice pass from Shane B. The first ended 1-0 as the Chief’s once again played a solid first and limited the scoring chances against Ashton M. in the Chiefs net.
Each team had a few powerplays in the second as we have seen the officials closely calling the head-check penalties thus far this season. Neither team could generate much on their powerplay opportunities until the Chiefs capitalized on a 5-on-3 chance midway through the period. Just as one of the two penalized Sting returned to the ice, the Chiefs completed a tic-tac-toe play from defenseman to winger to centerman in front of the net for an easy tap in. The aforementioned winger was AP Eric G. who certainly did not look out of place today. The beneficiary of his pass was D’arcy P. who just had to have his stick on the ice and redirect the puck into the net.
Still, it was only 2-0 and as the second period ended everyone knew the next goal could be key. Many of the spectators, however, took this opportunity to head to the washroom during the short “intermission” and, as fate would have it, before they could return to their seat, the Sting had scored. I was one of these spectators so let’s just say it’s now 2-1 with an entire period to play (but at least I will be comfortable for the rest of the game).
I don’t recall much in the way of chances, however, for either team and the third period flew past until we got to crunch time and the Sting pulled their goalie in an attempt to tie this one up. After an offensive face-off win by the Sting they had a shot from the point that missed the mark ricocheted off the boards and headed towards the blue line. Chiefs Matt P. hustled over to ensure the puck cleared the zone, it was picked up by a streaking Curtis A. who crossed center and buried the puck in the center of the open Sting goal. This gives Curtis 3 goals in 3 games and the Chiefs their third win of the young season.
No time to rest on our laurels, we now face the London Jr. Knights on Tuesday in their first regular season game of the season. This will be a real test. Tickets will be going fast, get yours today.
I guess this was a bit longer than I planned. Sorry about that.