Minor Bantam MD
return the favour to London Bandits
Sarniasports.com
November
9th, 2010
On Nov.6/10 the Sarnia Sting
minor bantam MD team took on the undefeated London
Bandits- Orange team at Nichol Arena in London. The
only other meeting between these two teams a few
weeks ago saw London hand Sarnia their first loss of
the year. Coming off a pair of hard earned wins
since then the Sting were determined to put in a
good effort. This also marked the first time this
season that the Sting had played with a complete
lineup. The Sting welcomed Nathan Harkins back from
injury having missed the previous five regular
season games.
It was obvious to all that
both teams felt confident enough to win as both
teams exchanged opportunities on goal and delivered
some solid body checks through the first 6 minutes
of the game. London managed to get on the score
sheet first however when starting goalie Noah
Melanson was beaten by a low hard shot through a
screen. Sarnia was able to keep the Bandits from
building on their lead by continually getting the
puck deep and recovering the dump ins. One such play
saw Jason Braun hustle into the corner to recover
the dump in by Jack Chapman. Braun put on a clinic
behind the net eluding two London players and then
fed the puck to a wide open Drew Morgan who cleanly
beat the Bandits goalie. This tied the game 1 – 1
and cemented the fact that Sarnia wasn’t going to go
quietly.
Period two saw both teams
trade some early chances on goal. With both teams
having a man in the penalty box on separate calls,
London went ahead 2 – 1 on a nice effort from a
forward who managed to somehow rip a shot over the
shoulder of Melanson from a difficult angle. Both
teams took a couple of penalties in the remaining
minutes that created chances on goal but neither
team scored. Keith Manery and Tyler Bennison both
had great chances to tie the game but were stopped.
The third period saw London take a couple of
penalties to start the period. The Sting were able
to gain control and generate some quality chances.
Jack Chapman and Kevin Durco had good point shots
stopped. Jason Braun finally managed to score when
he collected the rebound off a Shane Salisbury shot
from the point. Braun’s quick release eluded the
sprawled London goalie. Tied 2 – 2 the Sting kept
coming. Each line that came on seemed to continue
the work of the previous line and the chances kept
coming. Owen Gibson was finally able to tee up his
hard shot from the point and fired a nice low shot
on goal. The Bandits goalie was able to get a pad on
the shot but the rebound went straight to Drew
Morgan who fed a cross crease pass right on to the
stick of Jordan Pavey. Pavey made no mistake and
Sarnia was up 3 -2 with 4 minutes to go in the game.
London came right back about a minute later however
with a goal that was quite similar to their second
goal. A Bandits player was able to get behind the
Sting defense and once again beat Melanson high over
the shoulder from in close.
London kept the pressure on and had several great
chances on point shots from their captain. With just
under a minute to go another point shot from the
Bandits captain seemed to beat the Sarnia goalie.
The London players began to celebrate the goal but
the referee was signaling no goal and that the play
was still live. With the coaches screaming from the
bench to keep playing John Filia picked up the puck
which had settled near the blue line. He fed a pass
to Jason Braun who had begun skating towards the
London goal when he realized the play was still
live. When he received the pass near the Bandits
blue line the London goalie was doing a celebratory
skate into the corner leaving the net wide open for
Braun. After a lengthy conversation with the
officials London had to settle on the fact that the
referee had waived off their shot as not having gone
in therefore the puck was live and the Sarnia goal
was good. So with: 43 seconds to go in the game the
Sting took to the ice up 4 – 3. The 5 man unit did a
very good job controlling the face offs and keeping
London from any quality chances on goal. At the
final buzzer the Sting had returned the favour to
London, handing them their first loss of the season.
This promises to be a good match up all season long! |