Nov 16, 2009 | twhiteside | 1095 views
98's Still Looking For The Win Column
The Grey Bruce Line Spraying Minor Peewee Team played host to Niagara Falls Canucks on Saturday in Flesherton. The boys knew they could compete with this team and they showed it throughout the majority of the game. Owen O'Donnell scored the first goal unassisted after jumping on a miscue by a Niagara Falls defenseman. Niagara Falls tied it up before the Highlanders again jumped into the lead. The Highlanders had a strong forecheck and battled hard for the puck and Jake Wilson found the back of the net assisted by Jorden Reaman and Nic Whiteside.
After 2 periods the Highlanders were up 2-1 and were showing good confidence. The boys then went up 3-1 after Jesse Schmid moved the puck up the boards to Nic Whiteside who then made a pass to the streaking Jorden Reaman. Jorden took it down the left side and beat the goalie low to the glove to give the boys the 2 goal lead. The score remained that way until approximately 8 minutes remaining when Niagara Falls started mounting their comeback. The final score ended Niagara Falls - 5, Highlanders - 3. The guys deserved a better fate and I am sure the lessons they learned from the late game miscues will help them down the road.
Of note: We had 4 players with positive +/- in this game. They were Jesse Schmid +2, Nick Ritchie +2, Nic Whiteside +1 and Owen Routheut was also +1.
On Sunday the Highlanders played host to Burlington Eagles in Chesley. This game had lots of penalties and they cost the Highlanders as the Eagles scored 4 powerplay goals. Two of them were scored 5 on 3. The officials didn't seem to have a good handle on what was or wasn't a penalty, but our team needs to be more disciplined and take less penalties of the "lazy" variety. The Highlanders did have several powerplay opportunities of their own, but never seemed to get their attack on track. Twice we had 5 on 3 chances and could not convert for a goal.
The goaltending tandem of Kallen Macumber and AJ Braiden split the duties in net and didn't have much help on several of the Burlington goals. The Highlanders will be looking to regroup to get ready for Burlington this coming Saturday when we pay them a visit.