Jan 09, 2011 | jvanhaelemeesch | 782 views
Squire John's Minor Bantams Win Two This Weekend
This past weekend Squire John’s Grey-Bruce Highlanders Minor Bantams played the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs at the Mohawk Quad on Saturday and the Welland Tigers in Chesley on Sunday. The two previous games against Hamilton ended in 1-1 ties so the Highlanders hoped to bring it up one more level and try to close the gap in the standings with the Bulldogs.
The first period started off innocently enough, with both teams evenly matched until at 8:36 the Squire John’s Brady Anderson (Chesley) opened the scoring, assisted by Spencer Elder (Owen Sound) and Garrett McFadden (Kincardine). Hamilton drew a couple of penalties after that and the momentum started shifting more in favour towards the Highlanders .
At 13:04 of the second period, while the Highlanders were killing off a minor penalty, Ben Van Ooteghem (Saugeen Shores) was set free on a breakaway and deked out the Bulldogs’ goalie to widen the lead to 2-0. Elder and Hunter Robbins-Gibbons (North-Bruce Peninsula) assisted on the shot-handed goal. Hamilton responded with their own goal at 12:17 when they picked up a rebound at the side of the net to close the gap to 2-1. Three minutes later the flood gates started to open, as at 9:10 of the second period McFadden scored on a set-up from Elder. At 7:09 with the man-advantage, McFadden scored again, this time set up by Anderson. At 3:45 the gates were wide open as Anderson scored his second goal of the game, assisted by Ethan Skinner (Kincardine); then at 2:00 Van Ooteghem slapped one in from the high slot, assisted by Brenden Welsh (Owen Sound). Elder finished off the period as he broke in alone on a nice set up developed by Anderson and Skinner and deked out the Bulldogs goalie to give the Squire John’s Highlanders a 7-1 lead going into the third period.
After being shocked by the turn-around in the second period, the Bulldogs settled down in the final stretch and got their second goal of the game at 12:31. Not wanting to give the ‘Dogs any idea about coming back to tie the game, Van Ooteghem responded at 12:05 when he scored to restore the six-goal margin, the assist coming from Skinner and Elder. At the 10:44 mark, Hamilton scored when they deflected a slap shot from the point, beating Highlander goalie Tyler Fassl. The final goal of the game came at 2:04 when Skinner scored on another nice set-up play, this time from Hugh Murray (Beaver Valley) and Welsh.
Final score of the game was 9-3.
The next day the Welland Tigers visited the Highlanders in Chesley for the fourth and final meeting of the regular season between these two teams. The last time the Tigers were in Chesley the Highlanders won 2-0. Two other matches that were played in Welland ended up in loses for the Highlanders (4-3 and 3-2), so the Squires were determined to even up the season record with the Tigers at 2-2.
The game was moving along at a even pace between the two teams when Brady Anderson (Chesley) continued his hot streak for this weekend at 7:35 of the first period, scoring the opening goal, with assists coming from Ethan Skinner (Kincardine) and Spencer Elder (Owen Sound), and giving the Highlanders a 1-0 lead. Just like yesterday, the second period proved the charm as the Highlanders scored three quick goals to open up a 4-0 lead. The first one was a short-handed goal at 6:38 when Jamieson Buck intercepted a puck on its way out of the Welland zone and blasted a slap-shot to the high glove-hand side of the Tigers goaltender. At 6:16 the Squire John’s struck again with Hugh Murray’s (Beaver Valley) goal, assisted by Logan Davidson (Creemore) and Garrett McFadden (Kincardine). At 5:40 the last goal in this outburst was scored with the man-advantage by Anderson, assisted by Hunter Robbins-Gibbons (North-Bruce Peninsula) and Ethan Skinner (Kincardine).
The third period was disrupted by a number of penalties dished out to both teams, so the flow of the game did not go as smoothly as expected. The Highlanders were up to the task though, and kept the Tigers off their game plan. At 0:13, during a man-advantage, McFadden scored to nail the coffin lid on the Tigers for the rest of this regular season and evening up the season series with Welland at 2-2 .
Final score of the game was 5-0 with the shut-out going to Highlander goalie Aaron Johnson, who stopped 25 shots during the game .
The next game will be Saturday at the PowerAde centre versus the Halton Hurricanes and after that on Sunday, with the Brampton Jr. Battalion.