On the first weekend of 2013 the Highlanders hosted the Southern Tier Admirals on Saturday in Chesley and then travelled down to Hamilton to play the Bulldogs on the Sunday. The boys had a bit of time off from hockey after the previous week in the Marlboro tournament and only one practice time before this weekend’s games, so they should have been well rested and ready to play.
In Saturday’s
game against the Admirals the Highlanders opened the scoring about ten minutes
into the game when Ben Van Ooteghem scored from the low slot area, Andrew
Turnbull getting the assist on the goal.
The lead was short-lived though as Welland scored 15 seconds later to
even the score at 1-1 and taking any momentum away from the home team and it
seemed to carry into the second period as the Admirals carried the play,
scoring midway through the second period to take a 2-1 lead. Early in the third Brady Anderson scored while
close in on the goal to tie the game back up at 2-2. Jordan Vanhaelemeesch and Van Ooteghem
assisted on the play. The Highlanders
had come back to life in the third but with about seven minutes left the
Admirals scored to restore their one goal lead.
With a little over a minute left in the game the home team pulled their
goalie in an attempt to work some magic to tie the game up but fell flat as the
Admirals took advantage of a turn-over and put the puck into the empty net for
a 4-2 win.
After the
disappointing loss to the Admirals on Saturday the Highlanders hoped to turn
their fortunes around against the Hamilton Bulldogs. Only thing was, last time they had played at
the Mohawk 4 they lost a close one to the home team. Things started off well for the Highlanders
as they scored on their first power-play opportunity, early in the first
period. Brady Anderson deposited the
puck into the open net as a shot from Jordan Vanhaelemeesch hit the post and caromed
off it to Anderson. Garrett McFadden had
also assisted on the play. With another
man-advantage minutes later, the Highlanders this time gave back to the home team,
as the Bulldogs scored while short-handed to even the score at 1-1. The Highlanders had two other power play
attempts during the period but couldn’t get any positive results to retake the
lead. About the midway point of the
second period the Stephens Equipment crew set up a nice power play goal as Van
Ooteghem fed a pass through the front of the crease to Anderson, who was
waiting in the open to pop the puck into the net for a 2-1 lead. Trevor Nevidomskis also assisted on the
goal. Early in the third, the
Highlanders widened the lead to 3-1 when Van Ooteghem fed the puck out of the
corner to Anderson low in the left slot area, where he lifted a backhand shot
top shelf to score his third goal of the game.
Shortly after that goal, Hamilton weathered through a 5-on-3 situation
and that lifted the home team’s spirits. Shortly after killing the penalties off, they
were presented with a man-advantage and on the ensuing power play they scored
off a slap shot from the point that beat Highlanders goalie, Nik Redman. Van Ooteghem scored about two minutes later
to restore the two goal lead, assisted by Anderson, but Hamilton kept working
hard to even the score up. Redman faced
14 shots in the third period, with the Highlander defenders blocking at least another
five shots to preserve the 4-2 win.
The
Highlanders play two away games next weekend, one on Saturday at the Welland
Main Arena and the other in Guelph on Sunday.