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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!




 

 

 

 

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