Stephens Equipment Highlanders Flip Scores in Two Weekend Games, News, Minor Midget, 2012-2013 (Grey-Bruce Highlanders AAA Minor Hockey Association)

The Saturday game was closer than might be expected as the home rink was a better fit for the visiting team's style of play.   Special teams dominated the game results as five of the seven goals scored between the two teams were on the power play.  The Highlanders opened the scoring with about 6 minutes left in the first period when the puck was sent out to Kyle Betts in front of the net who then beat the Eagles goalie, with his shot partially stopped by the goalie pad as the puck went into the net.  Jordan Vanhaelemeesch and Hunter Robins-Gibbons assisted on the power play goal.  The Highlanders power play struck again on the next opportunity with thirty seconds left in the period, this time Vanhaelemeesch was positioned in front of the net to beat the goaltender five-hole.  Ethan Skinner and Ben Van Ooteghem helped set up the goal.

There was only one goal scored in the second period and yes, it was a power play goal; this time it was the Eagles turn to capitalize and make it 2-1 score.  Burlington made it a new game when their power play came through early in the third period, evening the score at 2-2.  The Highlanders didn't waste any time in restoring the one goal lead as they collected the final special team goal of the game when Carter Franks took a wrist shot from the blue line that beat a well-screened Eagles goalkeeper as the Highlanders players set up the screen.   Skinner and Van Ooteghem assisted on the play.   Trevor Nevidomskis gave the Highlanders a two goal lead with eight minutes left in the game when he came out off the right boards and beat the Eagles goalie low on the ice.  Betts assisted on this eventual winning goal as Burlington then scored with five minutes left to close to within one goal.  The Stephens Equipment team shut down the visitors for the remainder of the game; preventing them from even pulling their goalkeeper for the extra man in the dying minutes for the 4-3 win.

On Sunday in Hamilton things started off well for the Highlanders, as Nevidomskis scored just minutes into the game to give the visiting team a 1-0 lead, assists going to Brady Anderson and Robins-Gibbons.  Then with four minutes left in the first period the Stephens Equipment crew scored again to open a 2-0 lead.  This time it was Skinner potting the goal with assists by Van Ooteghem and Franks, but it was to be a short two-goal lead as the Bulldogs scored to close to within one goal one minute later.

For the first eight minutes of the second period play the Highlanders had the better chances to score but couldn’t take advantage of their power play time during one full two minutes on one occasion and then a good minute and a half on the other as the Highlanders took a penalty to even the teams out to four aside.  Once Hamilton killed off their penalty they quickly took control and scored to even the game at two.  Shortly after the visiting team were assessed another penalty and again, Hamilton scored a minute into the man advantage to take a 3-2 lead for their first lead in the game.  The Highlanders picked up the pace to get back into the saddle and drew a holding penalty off the Bulldogs to get a shot to tie the game back up.  This they did when Andrew Turnbull won the faceoff in the home team’s end back to Brenden Welsh who got a huge monkey off his back when he blasted a shot on the net that flabbergasted the Bulldogs’ goalie and scored to tie the game up at 3-3 with minutes left to play.  Things were looking like it might end up in a tie when a Bulldog’s forward skated down the right side and picked off the far goal post with a wrist shot.  The rebound off the post bounced in off the Highlanders goaltender and into the net with 30 seconds left in the game.  The Highlanders put on a valiant attempt to try and tie the game back up in the dying seconds but couldn’t pull it off, losing 4-3 to the home team.

The Minor Midgets next two games are big ones, facing the Halton Hurricanes on Friday Dec 21^st at the PowerAde Centre and then Saturday at home in Chesley against the Oakville Rangers.