Last night we played game 2 of the Tri-County finals and the playoff atmosphere was evident right from the moment we walked in the building. A packed house and both sides were incredibly well represented!
The 1st period absolutely flew by with only a couple of whistles and a couple of shots on net for each team. In the second, we had a couple of power play chances and couldn’t convert with a good PK from the opposition.
In the 3rd period, we got another power play early in the frame and we were finally able to convert on a determined play by number #20 (after a couple of attempts of his own), he found the captain #2 across the crease who buried it to put us up 1 - 0!
The rest of the 3rd period was high stress and the team kept pushing trying to find another goal to create some breathing room. With just over 4 minutes left Centre Wellington went on the power play but an elite PK killed off the chance without a shot on net for much of the kill. With 34 seconds left, we called a timeout on top of CW’s to get the boys rested up and defensively aligned and they won every battle in the last sequence and didn’t give up a shot.
A complete team effort from start to finish with everyone battling their hearts out tonight. A big shout out to our team leaders #2 S. Novosel, #19 H. Ambrose, #20 J. Vink and #23 R. Lewis who really led by example in the elimination rounds logging a ton of minutes in high leverage situations and never disappointing.
Watching this team grow as a group and understand what it takes to win was truly incredible to watch and be a part of. 4 defence, 2 of which were selected from last years ‘A’ team grew into significant roles playing significant minutes (one a converted forward) and helped stabilize our team all year. The mostly unchanged group of forwards found new chemistry and trust in one another throughout the playoffs and thrived at the most important time of the year! Last but not least, our dynamic duo #1 and # 28 in net played amazing throughout the playoffs capping off an incredible year for both of them.
What a ride that none of us will ever forget!