Stephens Equipment Highlanders Shot down by 45’s but Weather the Storm, News, Minor Midget, 2012-2013 (Grey-Bruce Highlanders AAA Minor Hockey Association)

On the Saturday game against the 45’s the Highlanders got off to a bad start when a Brampton player worked his way out from the corner to stuff the puck into the net as he came out by the side of the goal almost four minutes into the game for the 1-0 lead.  Play was pretty much even for the first period with no further good scoring opportunities by either team.

This writer missed the second period and was surprised to see Brampton with a 3-0 lead going into the third period.  From what I could gather the goals came from a couple of unfortunate events that led to the goals, but that was all I could come up with.  The play in the third period went slightly in the favour of the Highlanders, mostly due to one five-on-three man advantage the Highlanders had over the 45’s that lasted 1-1/2 minutes, but most of the shots came from outside the Brampton defensive zone set up and no good scoring attempts were generated.  The 45’s went home with the 3-0 win.

On Sunday the Highlanders fared better against the Guelph Storm, scoring midway through the first period when Ethan Skinner picked up a rebound shot made by Andrew Turnbull and as he skated away from the net, going into the corner, he backhanded the puck back past a surprised Storm goalie to give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead.  Carter Franks also assisted on the play.  The first period was mostly in the Guelph zone but not many good scoring attempts were generated by the home team.

For pretty much the rest of the game the Stephens Equipment team played the same way, with a couple of goals by the Highlanders called back by the referee.  One was after the whistle and the other had come after the goal net was dislodged.  Guelph had also picked up their game and pretty much played head to head with the Highlanders and the Storm also had a goal called back late in the third period when the puck was directed by a Storm player by his glove into the net.  Finally, with 2:50 left in the game Carter Franks wristed a shot towards the goal from the Storm blue line and Spencer Elder went to the net and re-directed the puck past the Storm goaltender for a 2-0 lead.  The home team held off the Storm for the remainder of the game and Tyler Fassl recorded his fourth shutout for the season.

The Stephens Equipment team’s next game is Dec 8th, a 3:30 tilt at the Chesley rink against the Hamilton Bulldogs and then down to the Leisureplex rink in Fort Erie against the Buffalo Regals on Sunday.