Tough Game Between Two Great Teams!, News, ATOMc Blue, Major Atom Recreation 2002, 2012-2013 (Waterloo Minor Hockey)

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Feb 10, 2013 | Mike Richardson | 435 views
Tough Game Between Two Great Teams!
         After a win against White the previous day, the ATOMc Blue Fireballs hit the ice early on Sunday to play the ever-dangerous ATOMc Red team.  Although Blue had been playing consistently strong hockey, so had Red, and this was undoubtedly going to be a great match between two excellent hockey clubs!  

Once again, for numerous reasons, the Fireballs were playing short-handed today, with Carson A., Lucas B., Michael R. and James R. absent from the bench.  However, the boys hit the ice hard, ready to make up for this missing talent by giving it their all!

 

ATOMc Red came out hard, too, and they gained the advantage immediately off the first face-off, as they carried the puck into dangerous territory around Luke C. in the Blue net.  However, Luke saved the initial shot, and Josh R. made a very insightful play when he protected the open corner of the net to prevent a Red wrap-around rebound goal.

 

This Red scoring opportunity transitioned into several back-and-forth rushes.  Riley D. started the excitement for Blue, as he broke free from Red defenders with Sam Z. at his side.  The two raced down the ice at break-neck speed, but a confident goalie at the other end used his quick reflexes to shut down their efforts.  Following a Red rush and a fantastic save by Luke C., Jett S. took his turn, rushing the length of the ice and taking a beautiful shot on net.  The Red goalie gloved this attempt to slow down the play with a whistle and face-off.

 

Much of this period highlighted the defensive skills present on both teams.  The Fireballs were playing with five on the blue line, with Ryan S. moving back to lend his skills to the cause.  His fiery and aggressive nature led him to challenge any opposing player who gained possession of the puck, and he caused many defensive zone turnovers with this style of play.  Because of efforts such as Ryan’s, the first period ended in a 0-0 tie.

 

The beginning of the second period was almost a mirror of the first, and ATOMc Red won the face-off and set up in Blue’s zone in hopes of gaining a scoring chance.  However, Tony R.’s and Calder W.’s strength on defence helped prevent their opposition from capitalizing.  When the puck ended up on a Red player’s stick in the corner, Tony rushed at him quickly, causing him to get rid of it quickly, passing it hastily to the front of the net.  Calder was playing his position atop the crease perfectly, and intercepted this pass before it reached its destination, breaking up the play and sending the puck into the neutral zone for a Blue scoring opportunity.

 

Sam Z. shone as brightly as ever this period, as his digging and hard work both set up break-out plays and earned himself chances in front of the net.  On one occasion early in the period, he both started a play and finished it, by clearing the puck out of the defensive zone to Riley D. and eventually taking a beautiful pass from Halen R. for a one-timer to end the play.  It was this type of effort from all players that made the game so exciting to watch for everyone in the stands.

 

Following a face-off in the Fireballs’ zone, Josh R. started a break-out play that nearly resulted in a goal.  Josh used his well-developed wrist shot to clear the puck off the boards to a perfectly positioned Matthew M. who banked it around the waiting defender and picked it up himself in the neutral zone before turning it over to a fast-moving Jett S.  Jett used his speed to propel himself past the opposition’s defencemen before releasing an excellent shot towards the top corner of the net.  However, an experienced Red goalie had come out to cut down the angle, and he used his blocker to make the save and prevent Blue from taking the lead.

 

As the play progressed from this save, Mason D. contributed by playing his position perfectly at the point, as he pinched in to prevent the puck from passing over the line (say that ten times fast!).  This kept the play going and gave Mason’s forwards another opportunity to put the puck in the net.

 

Inevitably, ATOMc Red eventually turned the play back in Luke C.’s direction.  However, Blue’s great goaltender made a huge sprawling save to maintain the current score.  Unfortunately, following the ensuing face-off, the opposition turned up the heat, as one player picked up a rebound and wrapped around the net for a goal, putting his team up by one.

 

Despite this setback, the Blue Fireballs persisted, and they were all over Red for the next several minutes.  Calder W. was excellent on the point, as he used his strong intuition to make positive decisions when pinching for the puck, resulting in him almost always being first to his destination and dumping it back in to extend his team’s offensive attack.

 

In net, Luke C. continued making excellent saves.  One highlight this period occurred when he traced the puck perfectly as it moved swiftly from the stick of a Red player on the wing to his teammate positioned in front of the net.  When he came to a stop in the center of the net, he found himself directly in front of the opposing player and made saving the oncoming one-timer look easy!

 

The Fireballs seemed to be able to make opportunities out of just about any situation.  For example, in a play off to the side of the ATOMc Red net, Jett S. found himself surrounded by opposing players.  They were checking him so hard, that the puck slipped off of his stick.   However, he used his own ingenuity and his feet to kick the puck in front of the net, creating a brilliant scoring opportunity for Matthew M.

 

On the next rush from Blue’s defensive end, and with just over forty seconds remaining in the period, Jett teamed up with Jackson M. in a play that was beautiful to watch.  Accepting a break-out pass from Tony R., Jett sped down the right-hand side of the rink, with Jackson pacing him in the center.  Jett led the two players chasing him towards the back of the net, but passed the puck perfectly to Jackson at the very last opportunity.  With a one-timer, Jackson deposited the puck in the mesh at the back of the net, concluding the beautiful play and evening the score at one.

 

Unfortunately, the celebration was short-lived as, less than twenty seconds later, Red took the lead back with a nice passing play around the Blue net.  The second period ended with ATOMc Red leading 2-1.

 

The other two periods had begun with Red scoring opportunities, and the third was no different.  Luke C. made a huge save within the first minute of the period and energized the rest of his team in doing so.

 

Josh R. had a great period, and it all started for him with a well-timed rush on his part, during which he deked the hockey pants off of several Red players before releasing a great shot on net.  Unfortunately, as he had done many times throughout the first two frames, the Red goalie made a fantastic save and maintained his team’s lead… for the time being!

 

Blue continued to play extremely well throughout the period, and they seemed to have one scoring opportunity after another.  Just over three minutes into the period, the fans in the stands witnessed the results of a heads-up play by Mason D., as the defencemen sent Riley D. on a breakaway with a beautiful pass up the boards.  Although Riley’s shot was saved by the Red goalie, the clapping from the stand helped motivate the Fireballs to continue in their attempts to even the score once again.

 

These efforts were somewhat hampered when, with six-and-a-half minutes remaining in the period, the Fireballs were assessed a penalty and found themselves playing at a deficit.  However, the boys applied pressure when the other team expected them to be sitting back, and the outcome was a goal.  With mere seconds remaining in the penalty, Josh R. rushed from one end of the ice to the other and deked out the Red goalie to even the score at two.  The bench erupted in cheers at this fantastic goal, and the crowd roared with their appreciation of Blue’s efforts to kill the penalty and Josh’s at scoring the goal.

 

Unfortunately, this lead lasted for just over three minutes, and ATOMc Red capitalized on a play resulting in a mass of players in front of the net to sneak one through a bunch of skates and sticks and into the back of the net.

 

Over the final two minutes of the game, the Fireballs did all they could to score the tying marker.  In a last ditch effort to even the game, Josh R. used his pin-point accuracy to make a tape-to-tape pass to Riley D., resulting in a great shot, but the Red goalie prevented it from entering the net.

 

On the returning play, Luke C. made a fantastic effort to keep the difference between the two teams at one by stretching out with his gloved hand to make a huge save.  Despite all of these efforts and the added pressure applied on Red by pulling the goalie and sending out another forward, the buzzer sounded with the final score 3-2 in favour of the opposition.  Both teams had played a superb game, and they left the ice accompanied by well-deserved applause from the crowd.

 

Awesome game, boys!  You’re consistently playing as a team, and that’s what’s going to help us be successful as this season continues!  Our next two ice times are practices, the first at 7:00 am on Saturday, February 16th at RIM Park’s Piller’s Arena, and the second at Albert McCormick West on Sunday the 17th at 8:30am.  Our next game is a late one at Moses Springer Arena in nearly two weeks against ATOMc Gold on Friday, February 22nd at 8:00pm. 

 

Good luck to the members of the Select team as you travel to Detroit next weekend!  See everyone soon!