Dec 06, 2011 | mdemuynck | 778 views
Midget B Girls Team Report - November 2011 by Rob Black
We kicked off November with a visit to Lambeth. Having some history with this team last year we really wanted to beat these girls. The 1st period had a good pace with Natalie Catlos being tested a couple of times and Kelcey Lucio coming up with a big play on D. We were still scoreless going into the 2nd but momentum started to swing our way as we generated more chances.
With 30 seconds left in the period Courtney Dani made a perfect pass to Katie Rowe who fired a quick shot putting us ahead 1-0 after 2. In the 3rd we had a great penalty kill and Natalie made a couple of huge saves. Despite their timekeeper trying to extend the game by not starting the clock in the last minute, we hung on to post the 1-0 win. The following weekend we travelled to St. Thomas. We were awarded some powerplays in the 1st and we had some good chances but no goals. Unfortunately after killing a late penalty they managed to score with less than minute left in the period. Early in the 2nd Sam McNeil made a great defensive play foiling a breakaway. We got some more pp opportunities including a 2 man advantage but we couldn’t manage to cash in. Although getting penalized to close out the 2nd, Melanie Poirier had a terrific shorthanded breakaway chance but came up short. We killed off the remaining penalty time to start the 3rd but they kept coming and scored shortly after. Then the speedy Amberley Holman broke free and scored 5 hole off a breakaway to pull us within 1. Unfortunately as the period wore on we got into more penalty trouble including a 5 on 3, which made it difficult to get the equalizer and we lost 2-1. The next night we hosted St Clair Shores at Gemini. After a tight scoreless 1st we began the 2nd with a penalty. We managed to kill it off and shortly after Amberley scored one off a nice feed from Taylor McTaggart. The period ended with us ahead 1-0. In the 3rd we got 3 straight powerplays. On the 2nd pp a shot from Savannah Black rebounded nicely to Katie who found the back off the net. Good thing because on the 3rd pp St Clair actually scored one shorthanded. But it wasn’t enough as we held on to win 2-1. Our next game was against a strong team from Lucan. We were badly out-chanced in the 1st with Natalie forced to make save after save to keep it 0-0 after 1. Our spectacular goaltending continued in the 2nd as we spent much of the period shorthanded. Then late in the frame a shot by Savannah bounced onto Melanie’s stick who smacked it home giving us the lead. Unfortunately it was short-lived as they finally beat Nat and tied it during the last minute. She continued the goalie clinic in the 3rd and somehow we managed to eke out the 1-1 tie. No question about the 1st star in this one! Next we travelled to Parkhill. This was a very chippy team who took a lot of penalties. We made them pay in the 1st as Courtney Dani buried one on the pp with assists from Amberley and Nicole Westgate. In the 2nd, again on the pp, Mackenzie Van Hoof ripped one home to put us up 2-0. Parkhill’s hack play and penalties really got out of hand in 3rd. The penalized girls even got into some spirited discussion with some of our hockey Mom’s. Now that’s playing with fire! Fortunately the game was curfewed and we got out of there with the win and no broken bones. A couple of days later we hosted Petrolia. We got off to a bad start in this one as we fell behind 2-0 in the 1st. On a pp in the 2nd Amberley carried the puck out from the corner and rifled it home to pull us close. In the 3rd we took a lot of penalties and couldn’t recover so we came up short losing 2-1. The next weekend we played in the Stratford Aces tournament. We entered as a BB team so we knew it would be a challenge. The Friday afternoon game was vs Mississauga. We totally dominated most of this game but just couldn’t buy one. We ended the game with 3 straight penalties and we settled for a disappointing 0-0 tie. We knew this might come back to haunt us. Later that evening we faced Manitoulin (winner of the last tournament we were in). We got a quick start as Shaina Stubbs scored early on a wicked shot from the hash marks. After a penalty kill in the 2nd, Savannah broke through both D and scored with a beauty shot over the blocker making it 2-0 after 2. They got one back at the 7:00 mark of the 3rd. This motivated them and soon after Natalie made a gigantic save off a breakaway. They kept coming and actually hit the post in the last minute but we held them off for a thrilling 2-1 win! Saturday morning we played Goderich. Seemingly still sleepy we played with low energy and posted a 0-0 tie in a lack lustre affair. Later that night we faced the unbeaten home team Stratford. We played much better in this one. But unfortunately got a bad bounce in the 1st as we put one in our own net. The pace really picked up in the 2nd. Taylor scored a sensational goal, cutting across the line and wristing one top shelf to tie things up. Megan McGill had a real good chance in the dying seconds of the period but no dice as it ended 1-1. Checking was tight in the 3rd with Nicole making a big play on D to keep things close. With 3:42 left they scored the go ahead goal. Then the refs took over. The game got ugly and we got into some retaliatory scrums. Somehow only we got penalized including having 2 players ejected. Shorthanded for the rest of the game they scored 2 more and we lost 4-1. A score certainly not indicative of the game. As it turned out we were neck-and-neck with Goderich to make the final, but we were eliminated on the basis of penalty minutes! Oh well… Our last game of the month was vs Lakeshore as we took a very long drive to play in a very old barn. This team was good and Nat was forced to come up big early. Savannah got us on the board as she cut across the centre and fired a hot shot home from the slot. Mackenzie played a strong game on D keeping their talented forwards at bay. Late in the 1st we took a penalty and they managed to score making it 1-1. They came out flying in the 2nd and scored another early. We got on our heels a bit in this period and they scored again on the pp. Our woes continued in the 3rd as we had trouble clearing our zone and it ended up in the back of our net. Melanie and Courtney Dani both had great chances to get us back in it but with no luck. Finally Amberley scored late to make it 4-2 but that was all she wrote. Our season record stands at 6-4-1 which is quite good considering we are in a B/BB division. We still have a couple more games before Christmas. Happy holidays!