Mooretown travelled thru the snow on Friday night to Lincoln for the semi final opener in the OMHA Playoffs vs the Lincoln Blades. They went by Charter Bus and for many of the kids it was a thrill as they had never been on that type of bus. With the weather conditions it sure made it easier on the parents.
The Storm arrived in Lincoln ready to play as they came out inspired with alot of jump.
Lincoln opened the scoring 1 1/2 mins into the game as a player walked in from the side and roofed a shot over Emma McCormick's shoulder for a 1-0 lead. Mooretown replied at 3:10 of the first on a goal by Rory Pickle with an assist from Jared Pageau. The score was deadlocked 1-1 after one.
Justin Murphy gave Mooretown a 2-1 lead 3 minutes into period two as he scored on a Jared Pageau rebound. It was a great reward for driving hard to the net. Elijah Contreras extended the Storm lead to 3-1 on a beautiful goal while Keith Bogaert and Nolan Gladwish drew assists. Mooretown led 3-1 after two periods.
Lincoln cut the deficit to 3-2 on a goal at the 4:30 mark of the third. The Blades pulled their goalie for the equalizer with a minute remaining but Jared Pageau scored for a 4-2 lead. The Blades kept the goalie off for the extra attacker and this time it paid off as the scored with 17 seconds remaining to make it a 4-3 game. With the goalie still on the bench Jared Pageau took the puck off the face off and scored into the empty net net to put the game out of reach and a 5-3 Storm victory.
Emma McCormick was rock solid in net and all players contributed to the team victory.
Mooretown is up against a very good Lincoln squad and must keep grinding if they want to be successful in this series.
