Squire John's Finish Season Against Guelph
On Saturday, Mar 5th, the Highlanders played their last game of the regular season in Chesley against the Guelph Storm.
It was a game that wouldn’t affect the third place finish for the Squire John’s, but a win for Guelph would help towards an 8th place finish. At 5:30 of the first period Guelph scored when there was a turn-over at centre ice and the Storm player broke in on a break-away. The Highlander defence caught up and forced the player off to the side, but the Guelph player got off a shot at the last moment that beat the Highlander goalie. About one minute later, the Guelph goalie mishandled the puck behind his net and gave the puck up to Caleb Stephens (Collingwood) who got the puck out to Ben Van Ooteghem (Saugeen Shores) in the slot for what looked like a sure goal, but somehow the Guelph defender got back in time to block the shot. At 1:57 the Highlanders evened up the score when Stephens scored on a two-on-one with Van Ooteghem. Garrett McFadden (Kincardine) assisted by feeding a break-out pass to Van Ooteghem at the Highlander blue line.
The second period went scoreless but early in the third period the Storm got a break when a shot fired on the Highlander goalie rebounded off one of the defence and into the net, giving the Storm a 2-1 lead. The Highlanders thought they had tied the game at the 10:00 minute mark when Jordan Vanhaelemeesch (Saugeen Shores) knocked a puck at the goal line into the net, but the goal was called back by the referee on the net being knocked off its post hole. The Highlanders had several other good chances on goal - one of them a Van Ooteghem rocket off the cross-bar - but the Storm goalie was in a groove and couldn’t be beat.
Overall, it was a great season for the ‘97 Bantams, finishing up in third place in the SCTA AAA league with 42 points and a 19-13-4 record, with 113 goals for and 72 against. The SCTA Qualifier playoffs are next weekend in Welland. Wish the Squire John’s good luck for a successful finish.
