Stephens Equipment Highlander Bantams Come Away with Four Points Over Weekend Play
The Stephens Equipment Major Bantam Highlanders played two games this weekend; one home game in Chesley against the Welland Southern Tier Admirals and an away game on Sunday evening versus the Guelph Storm at the West End Recreation Centre.
The game against
Welland started off well for the Highlanders as they scored at 14:13 of the
first period when Spencer Elder (Owen Sound) picked up a rebound shot off of a
Garrett McFadden (Kincardine) point shot.
Brenden Welsh (Owen Sound) assisted on the play. The Admirals must have still had their “bus-legs”
as the Highlanders kept up the pressure, frustrating the over-whelmed Admirals
and eventually drew some penalties from the visitors. Nearing the end of one penalty the Admirals
where slapped with a second penalty, giving the Stephens Equipment team a 5-on-3
man advantage for a 21 second span. The
home team took full advantage of it and scored at 7:28 with seven seconds to
spare. Tyler Rolfe (Shelburne) got the
goal, assisted by Jordan Vanhaelemeesch (Saugeen Shores) and Logan Davidson
(Creemore).
The second
period saw the Admirals start to get their legs back and outshot the
Highlanders 10-4, but the home team still ended up coming out ahead. At 13:09 Ethan Skinner (Kincardine) slipped
in behind the Admirals’ defense and picked up a blue line to blue line pass
from Davidson and went in alone to deke the Welland goaltender for a 3-0
lead. Brady Anderson (Arran-Elderslie)
picked up an assist on the play. At
11:06 the Admirals got on the scoreboard to close to within two goals. This game saw the Highlanders going to the
net more than usual and at 10:09 the Highlanders quickly responded to the
Welland goal when Caleb Stephens (Collingwood) scored in close, assisted by Ben
Van Ooteghem (Saugeen Shores) and Elder.
Later in the period the Stephens Equipment team had to kill off some
penalties and performed flawlessly. When
the Admirals did have a very opportune chance to score on a wide open net
during the man-advantage, Nick Redmond (Collingwood) made a hi-light save as he
stretched across the goal mouth to block the shot.
At 13:23 of the
third period the Admirals scored with the man-advantage to narrow the
Highlander lead to 4-2. Vanhaelemeesch
restored the 3-goal lead at 8:37 as he picked up a rebound, spun around and
slid the puck into the open net. Rolfe
and Davidson assisted on the play. At
5:24 with the Highlanders on the man-advantage, Rolfe got his second goal of
the game, going to the net and picking up a rebound that he back-handed over
the sprawling Admirals’ goalie. Hunter
Robins-Gibbons (North Bruce Peninsula) and Davidson (his fourth of the game)
got the assists. To nail the coffin lid
on the Admirals, Elder scored his second goal as well when he picked up the
puck behind the visiting team’s net and came around from behind the net to
stuff the puck between the skates of the Welland net-minder to give the
Highlanders a game ending 7-2 win. Van
Ooteghem had dumped the puck in behind the goal for the assist.
After the game
the players did some team bonding while they watched the Attack and Knights
play. Thanks to the Welsh’s who were
kind enough to have the team over for pizza before the Attack game and the
McFadden’s for providing the tickets for the boys.
Sunday’s game
against the Storm started off well for the Highlanders when they scored early
in the first period at the 7:13 mark on a 5-on-3 power play. Tyler Rolfe slid
the puck across the front of the net to Logan Davidson who had the whole net to
deposit the puck into. Brenden Welsh assisted on the play. The
Storm picked up the pace for the rest of the period but couldn’t beat
Highlanders goalie Tyler Fassl (North Bruce Peninsula). Early in the second period the Highlanders
struck again to take a 2-0 lead. Van
Ooteghem and Stephens cycled the puck down low and then fed the puck out to
Elder at the hash marks where he “tossed it high twine”. Guelph scored at 9:29 on the man-advantage to
close to within one goal. The third
period saw the Storm score two quick goals, one at 11:17 and the other at 10:23
to suddenly take a 3-2 lead. The Stephens Equipment team handled the sudden
turn-around well as they responded at 9:38 with a goal to tie things up at
3-3. Van Ooteghem picked the pocket off
a Storm player like the “Merchant in Venice” and carried the puck into the
Guelph end, passing back to a trailing Elder who went in on the goal alone,
beating the net-minder with a dangle.
With the game tied both teams worked for the next goal. At 2:57 the game winning goal was scored when
Van Ooteghem cleared the puck into the Storm zone, with Skinner seizing upon the
opportunity to gain the free puck and broke in on the goal alone, beating the
goalie low glove side as he sailed over the net minder in Bobby Orr fashion. Thanks goes to Garrett McFadden for some
input to this write-up on the Guelph game.
The Stephens
Equipment Bantams next play Sunday January 29th at 4:30 p.m. in Markdale
for a rematch game against the Guelph Storm.