The Stephens Equipment Highlanders played in the SCTA Qualifier Tournament on the March 2nd weekend with a good chance at moving on to the OMHA Final Tournament. All they had to do was finish in the top two spots in their division and then win the cross-over game against one of the top teams from the other division. It was doable but the team would have to be at the top of their game to do it, as anything less could cost them a win and a game in the final for a chance to win and to go on to the OMHA Final.
The
first game on Friday morning was against the Buffalo Regals who had been
playing well lately and a fast team on a big ice surface can be a challenge to
play against. The Highlanders got the opening goal by Ethan Skinner in the
first period, assisted by Kyle Betts and Ben Van Ooteghem. Early in the second period the Regals tied
the game up and then late in the same frame scored on the power play to take a
2 - 1 lead going into the final period. The Highlanders worked hard in the
third but couldn't find the back of the net for the equalizer. In the dying minutes of the game the Stephens
Equipment team pulled their goalkeeper for the extra man but they lost the puck
to an opposition player in the Buffalo end who threw the puck down ice and
found the net for a 3 - 1 win.
Game
two was played three hours later against the Halton Hurricanes, who have been
an evenly matched team when playing the Highlanders. After a scoreless first period the Hurricanes
opened the scoring early in the second.
Caleb Stephens tied things up a little more than three minutes later,
assisted by Garrett McFadden and Spencer Elder.
In the last five minutes of the second frame four goals were scored -
the first three by the Hurricanes before the Highlanders scored to end the
period down 4-2. Elder potted the Highlanders
goal with assists coming from McFadden and Skinner. Late in the third period
Halton scored with the man advantage to win the game 5-2.
So
with the two losses the Highlanders fortunes did not look good and all they
could do was play to win the next two games with big leads and then hope the
"hockey gods" were favoring the Highlanders.
Game
three was scheduled for early Saturday morning versus the Burlington
Eagles. Both teams scored in the later
part of the opening frame with the Highlanders goal coming from Brady Anderson,
assisted by Jordan Vanhaelemeesch and Andrew Turnbull. Then in the second
period things opened up with five goals being scored one of them a short handed
goal by the Highlanders and a power play goal by the Eagles. It was also one of
the longest periods played in my memory as there were some 28 minutes in
penalties handed out by the referee to both teams in total. This created a lot of confusion for the time
keeper and the players as the penalty boxes filled up. This eventually ended up in what seemed like a
15 minute delay after the Highlanders scored what they thought was a power play
goal only to have it called back by the referee and the time clock moved back
about a minute with the Highlanders now playing in a short handed
situation. Fourteen seconds later into
the penalty kill Van Ooteghem pushed the puck over the goal line after a
Skinner shot on goal squeaked past the Eagles goalie to give the Highlanders a
short handed goal going into the final period and more importantly a 4-3 lead. When they came back out for the third period
the Eagles defense had fallen apart and the Highlanders went on to score
another three goals for a 7-3 win. Betts
scored one of the goals and McFadden netted the other two - the assists handed
out to Van Ooteghem, Skinner and two for Trevor Nevidomskis.
Game
four saw the Stephens Equipment team get off to a good start against the
Hamilton Bulldogs, building a solid 3-0 lead in the first period, with goals
from McFadden, Spencer Elder and Nevidomskis - assists going to Elder,
Nevidomskis, Hunter Robins - Gibbons and two for Caleb Stephens. Hamilton got the only goal in the middle
period but the Highlanders scored three more goals in the third period to one
for the Bulldogs to win the game 6-2.
Scoring for the Highlanders in the final frame were Van Ooteghem,
Nevidomskis (for his second of the game) and Vanhaelemeesch with Stephens
notching his third assist of the match, Brenden Welsh helping out on two of the
goals and Turner assisted on the last one.
The
two wins were not enough as the Highlanders were short by one point to be able
to go on to Sunday's game against the Oakville Rangers. The showing they gave
in those two wins made it obvious that they could have been the "dark
horse" mentioned in the OMHA Newsletter a few weeks ago if only they had
played the same way in Friday's games.
Thanks
to the coaching staff for their hard work and commitments they made to making
this team finish the regular season with an excellent record.