This was a busy
weekend for The Waste Management Minor Peewees as they headed on down the road
to Burlington for a Saturday matchup with the Burlington Eagles and returned to
Markdale for a double header with the St. Catharines Jr Falcons.
This season is winding down as only a few short weeks ago this motley crew of finely tuned race horses made the clubhouse turn and now they’re turning for home. The boys have worked hard all year and want to finish strong as they faced a tough squad from Burlington. So I loaded up a whole bunch of them in the Silverado; the old girl packed a couple coolers with light snacks, water and fresh fruit like oranges, apples, bananas and prunes. Then the rubber hit the road. It was a nice quiet trip till their I-Pod batteries died off and they removed their ear plugs to discover I was listening to Slim Whitman and Guy Lombardo on the radio. The rest of the trip was an ugly affair cuz I refused to change the dial. But at least they were in a bit of a foul mood when they arrived so I was hoping for a great game.
And everything started out as planned and the Highlanders dominated play for the entire first period with a bunch of good scoring chances. Ryan Winter was outstanding in goal. Noah Johnson fired one at the net with 5:38 remaining and Troy Weber banged in the rebound. The boys had a well earned 1-0 lead going to the Second.
The Second session belonged to the Burlington Eagles who gathered themselves; scored a beauty from the high slot with about 9:30 remaining and added another on a great play about a minute later. We ran into some penalty problems and they scored again with 3:26 remaining from a scramble. The score after two Periods was 3-1 for Burlington and it’s only honest to say that the boys in the Silverado had a distinct odour to their performance. That’s when this old salt was somewhat admonished by Coach Rob who said “Grandpa, if I told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times. Prunes and hockey don’t mix”. I take full responsibility for that period of hockey but I always thought that a fruit was a fruit....was a fruit. I stand corrected.
But the boys were loose going to the Third Period. The Eagles did score in the first minute but ran into penalty problems of their own and the Highlanders settled down. Evan Spencer took a nice pass from Michael Fiegehen and demonstrated the Shelburne Shuffle as he came around to the back door with 8:40 to play and we were right back in it. The rest of the period was played evenly by both teams and at times turned about as mean as a grizzly with a sore tooth. Burlington did score a power play goal with about 4:00 minutes to play to make the final tally 5-2 Eagles. Both teams shook hands after the game, exchanged a few recipes and this entertaining game was in the book. Our wonderful Band of Brothers hit the road and headed north. The www.hockeyshot.ca player of the game was well earned by Bradyn Thompson.
The Waste Management Minor Peewees are by now a battle hardened group and met at the Markdale Arena for Game #1 against the St. Catharines Jr Falcons on Sunday morning. The guys really wanted to pick up some points on this day and came out hard on the puck.
Play in the First Period was once again in our favour and the Minor Peewees were playing well but it was St. Catharines who scored the first two goals of the game. But, not to be denied, Captain Jake lead the way with his outstanding play and got us on the board with assists to Troy Weber and Noah Johnson. The score after one Period was Falcons 2, Highlanders 1.
For some reason, the Second Period has been a source of difficulty for this team and the trend continued. Once again, Coach Tom asked for Mozart but got a monkey playing a bugle. Yup.....wasn’t a pretty period. The Falcons dominated this stanza in every category with the exception of some great individual efforts by Jakob Lee and Tyson Wilkins. St. Catharines lead the contest 5-1 after 2 Periods of play. The guys did play better in the Third Period and Jakob Lee did cut the score to 5-2 from Quinton Maddock and Troy Weber before the Falcons had the last word with 1:00 minute left. The final score was 6-2 for St. Catharines. Congratulations to Jakob Lee for his selection as the www.hockeyshot.ca player of the game award. Well done Captain Jake.
There was a break time in between games and one of the top dogs from IKEA, Sven Bjornson, was at the Markdale barn. He said “I like this team. They remind a lot of the stuff we sell at our stores. ....”Some assembly required””. I said, “thank you Sven....I think”.
And the boys did indeed assemble the package for the second round and played a great game. Ryan Winter started the game and was playing well but had to leave early due to illness and was replaced by the capable Jack Armstrong. And Jack was outstanding. Play was even in the First Period and St. Catharines opened the scoring with two goals about half way through before Jakob Lee stole the puck at centre ice and dangled his way in for a great unassisted effort to cut the lead to 2-1 before the end of the first chapter. The Highlanders were a confident group this afternoon as Quinton Maddock banged in a point shot to open the Second Period from Captain Jake who was on a mission this Sunday afternoon. Then Michael Fiegehen scores from Evan Spencer and Danny Skinner. Noah Johnson follows that one up from Troy Weber and with 8:18 to play in the Second Period, it was 4-2 Highlanders. Then, with less than five minutes to play, the Falcons scored 2 of their own to tie the game at 4 goals each. But the boys would not surrender this time and Noah Johnson scored his second of the game from Jakob Lee with 2:57 remaining. The Waste Management Minor Peewees started the Third Period with a 5-4 lead.
This game was a rip snortin beauty and neither team was willing to give an inch. Jack Armstrong made two key saves to start the Third, as did the Falcons goaltender. Both teams were determined to win this war of attrition and the final result was in doubt. Then, with about 9:22 remaining to play, it was the St. Catharines snipers that scored two goals back-to-back to regain the lead at 6-5. But this wide open game was fast, hard hitting and just plain superb entertainment for the fans from both centres. The Highlanders were short handed with 4:08 to play when Noah Johnson went hard on the fore check, won the battle and banged one off the dasher behind the net. Eric Charlebois was paying attention and rifled the puck in the open side as it emerged in front of the net. That was Noah’s third point this afternoon. The game was tied once again at 6 goals and that’s where it finished.
This game had everything going for it and every Highlander player was worthy on this day.
Mark Dupont was very steady in this contest and was named the www.hockeyshot.ca player of the game for his part in the tie. Well done Mark and both teams are to be commended for their effort.
I guess the secret’s out folks. These Waste Management Minor Peewees are a tough bunch of dudes as are all of the other teams in the Highlander Organization. None of our teams will surrender and they are proud to wear the sweater.
But the season isn’t over yet and we’re still looking for more points as we face off against the Oakville Rangers next Sunday in Chesley at 1:00. If you want to see some great hockey, be there early to get a good seat.
See you next week.........
Grandpa