On Thursday night Dec 23rd at Joshua Creek Arena, Squire John’s Minor Bantams played the Oakville Rangers. In the two previous meetings they played well against Rangers but couldn’t come away with a point.
Early in the game, Jamie Little (Grand Valley) sent a message to Oakville with a huge body-check along the boards, serving notice that the Highlanders were here to play hockey. The Highlanders then got on the scoreboard first when the Rangers were short-handed. The play started with Garrett McFadden (Kincardine) feeding the puck to Jordan Vanhaelemeesch (Saugeen Shores), who carried the puck into the Ranger’s zone to set up the power play. As he carried the puck over the blue-line along the right-side boards, one of the Oakville defenders checked Vanhaelemeesch, knocking the puck off him. McFadden was trailing the play and picked up the loose puck. Moving into the high slot area he fired the puck through the goaltender’s five-hole for a 1-0 lead. It wasn’t long before the Highlanders got the opportunity to widen the lead when the Rangers drew another penalty. This time as the Highlanders were set up in the Rangers zone, Ben Van Ooteghem (Saugeen Shores) passed the puck from the corner to Brenden Welsh (Owen Sound) at the left boards hash-marks. Switching places with Van Ooteghem, Welsh carried the puck around to the back of the net, where he then fed the puck out to Vanhaelemeesch who was stationed at the top of the blue in front of the Oakville net. Giving the puck a chop, Vanhaelemeesch “bar-downed” the black disk off the cross-bar and into the net to give the Highlanders an early 2-0 lead.
Shortly after the Highlanders successfully killed off their second penalty of the game, the Rangers got lucky at 13:43 of the second period, catching goaltender Tyler Fassl (North-Bruce Peninsula) off balance on a shot from the top left circle to get on the scoreboard, making it a 2-1 game. After facing only 4 shots in the first period, Fassl seemed to be rusty and at first struggled with the barrage of shots that followed as the Highlanders worked at killing off another two penalties – at one time being down two men for a 20 second stretch. As Fassl faced more shots during that barrage he then settled down and got his focus back. The team also were great at killing the penalties by keeping the Rangers outside and from picking up any loose pucks around the net. Nearing the end of the second Caleb Stephens (Collingwood) came close to restoring the Highlanders 2-goal lead when while moving down the right side into the Rangers zone, he threw a back-handed saucer pass to the front of the Rangers goal, almost connecting with Logan Davidson (Creemore) on the play. At 1:21 of the second period the Highlanders got their third power play goal of the game. It started with Hugh Murray (Beaver Valley) along the left-side boards with the puck, passing it to Jamie Little at the point, where Little then relayed it across the blue-line to Hunter Robbins-Gibbons (North-Bruce Peninsula) who one-timed a slap-shot high to the Ranger goalie’s glove side of the net, making it a 3-1 score.
Going into the third period, the Highlanders played disciplined hockey and stuck with their game plan. Oakville pressed to close the 2-goal gap, but the Rangers couldn’t beat the Squire John’s goalie or defence. Late in the game they pulled their goalie for a last try at getting back in the game. With less than 30 seconds in the game Vanhaelemeesch corralled the puck in the slot area of the Highlanders end of the ice, and lifted it high over the Oakville defence - the puck dropping in around the red line. Seeing the play develop, Van Ooteghem rushed out to get the puck, beating the Rangers to the puck. Breaking into the home team’s end with a Ranger defence man draped over him, Van Ooteghem tried to push the puck into the net for the empty netter but ended up hitting the outside post. By then the game was pretty much over as the Highlanders won 3-1.
The Squire John’s Minor Bantams next play Dec 27th in Oakville’s Richard Bell Memorial International Hockey Tournament. There they will face the Toronto Titans, Detroit Little Caesars, Barrie Colts and the Kitchener Rangers in round robin play. If they are successful they will reach quarter-final play on Dec 29th against one of the following teams in the other division – Waterloo Wolves, Buffalo Regals, Oakville Rangers, York Simcoe Express or the Hamilton Reps. Good luck Highlanders!