At 8:30 on the morning of Sunday, March 3rd, the ATOMc Blue Fireballs took to the ice to play ATOMc White. This game would be the final of several great games between these two teams this regular season. Although White had yet to beat Blue, it was a team of consistently improving players who were always a dangerous threat.
Because Matthew M., Halen R. and
Michael R. were absent this morning, a few line changes were in order. Tony R. would, once again, move up to
forward, and Riley D. played wing, while the three offensive lines shared two
centermen. Two lines would back them up
on defence and, as always, Luke C. would be the steadfast defender in net.
The line of Lucas B., Jackson M.
and Jett S. stared down their opposition for the opening face-off. After an initial scrum at center ice, White
broke into Blue’s defensive zone for a brief second, but quickly ran into
Carson A., whose lightning-quick reflexes allowed him to shoot out his stick in
a blur to disarm his opponent.
Both teams had come out ready to
play, and the action went back and forth between the two. On one Fireballs’ rush, a brilliant passing
play between Josh R. and Jett S. set up for a great scoring opportunity, as
Jett ended up releasing a bullet from just inside the point. Although the puck didn’t cross the goal line,
it hung around the open crease until Lucas B. fought off several White players
in front of the net and put it in himself, giving the team a one-goal lead just
two minutes into the game.
The Fireballs continued to apply
seemingly endless offensive pressure as the game continued, and all facets of
the team contributed to this effort.
Less than one minute after the first goal, Mason D. got a hold of the puck
at the point, and unleashed a low, hard shot towards the net. As this attack continued, White had their
opportunities to clear the zone, but Josh R. and Calder W. did their job and
refused to allow the puck to cross the blue line. Following a Josh R. shot from the point,
James R. picked up the puck and released a beautiful wrist shot as he cruised
by the crease. The puck eluded the White
goaltender’s glove and rattled around inside the net, giving his team a little
insurance with only four minutes having passed since the first drop of the
puck.
In order to try and work their
way on to the scoreboard, ATOMc White attempted to crowd the front of Blue’s
net with players. However, Luke C. was
not fooled by the mass of bodies in front of him, as he used his size to peer
overtop of them all and see the plays developing beyond.
Carson A. shone at both ends in
the first period. On one hand, he helped
Luke thin the mob in front of him by playing his position around the net and
using his stick to tie up several of the threats present there. On the other, he helped in the offensive
effort at the other end of the rink. For
example, as the first ten minutes of the game wound down, James R. won a
face-off in White’s end and immediately sent the puck sliding back to Carson at
the point. Carson wasted no time in
firing the puck towards the net, and only a fantastic save from the opposing
goalie prevented it from counting as another goal.
One more scoring opportunity
arose in the final seconds of the first, when Tony R. and Sam Z. crossed the
line together, Sam carrying the puck and Tony playing decoy. Once again, the White goalie needed to be at
the top of his game to save the smokin’ hard shot that came from Sam’s
stick. The audience applauded the stop,
and rightfully so! The first period
wrapped up with the score 2-0 in the Fireballs’ favour.
The second period was almost a
direct continuation of the first, as both Riley D. and Ryan S. dug hard around
the White net, Ryan behind and Riley in front.
Ryan’s efforts pushed the puck out front, where Riley was ready to
pounce upon it, but the goalie’s glove moved quickly and covered the puck to
bring about the whistle and a face-off.
The scoring opportunities
abounded in the first couple minutes of the second frame. Shortly after the first, Jackson M. parked
himself perfectly in front of the net to take part in a play that had nearly
become routine for he and Jett S. Jett
moved out from behind the net and instinctively knew to pass the puck towards
the crease. Jackson’s shot was hard and
hit the goalie’s chest protector with a thud, as the White netminder was
well-positioned to prevent another point against his team.
Although most offensive
opportunities seemed to fall in the Fireballs’ favour, White was a very capable
team, and they worked very hard to earn their chances, too. However, Luke C. was on fire this morning,
and it would take a pretty fantastic shot or deke to get past him. On one of ATOMc White’s pushes towards the
net, one of their forwards release a beautiful wrist shot aimed at the goal. For a second, it looked like the opposition
had Luke beaten, but the nimble netminder shot out his blocker at the last
second and deflected the puck away from the net and into the corner.
With just under four minutes
remaining in the period, Jett S. added to his team’s numbers. After hitting the post with his initial shot,
Jett picked up his own rebound and sped stealthily around the net to score
almost undetected. This goal gave the
Fireballs a comfortable 3-0 lead.
Although it may seem as if this
game was an easy game for Blue, it most definitely was not. ATOMc White is a very strong team with
excellent players, but it just so happened that everything was clicking for the
Fireballs, and the boys were firing on all pistons.
The last few minutes of the
second period displayed a number of top-notch scoring opportunities for White,
but it also presented some excellent defensive work by ATOMc Blue. Calder W. was at the top of his game, and
White found it extremely difficult to escape his reach. Calder wasn’t even letting the opposition
through the neutral zone with the puck, as he checked them and stole the puck
with what seemed like a one hundred percent success rate!
On the rare occasion that White
did find their way into the Fireballs’ zone, the boys’ defensive skills kicked
in, and all players worked together the reject any scoring chances. On one play, an ATOMc White player passed the
puck purposefully towards the front of the net, but Luke C. shot out his stick
to intercept it and send it out of harm’s way.
Jett S. also contributed with his strong back-checking efforts, and
everyone contributed by playing their positions to help clear the zone. Mason D. closed off the period with an
excellent breakout play which started with him stealing a rebound from a
waiting White player and rushing the length of the ice for a shot on the
opposing net.
The third period started with a
bit of a scare for the ATOMc Blue Fireballs, when a White player wrapped around
the net and stuffed the puck past Luke C.
However, the referee immediately waved the attempt down as “No Goal,”
because at least one of the opposition’s players had been in Luke’s crease when
the goal was scored, preventing the Blue goaltender from effectively responding
to the play.
One minute into the period, the
Fireballs found themselves killing off a penalty. Although this would usually bring about
scoring opportunities for the team on the power play, Carson A. and Mason D.
worked together to keep their zone clear, beating their opposition to the puck
at every chance and dumping it the length of the ice to relieve tension.
When the penalty was over, Blue
applied offensive pressure once again.
Calder W. got into the action by pinching at the point to prevent the
puck from escaping. However, every once
in a while, ATOMc White found their way into the Fireballs’ end, and Luke C.
stunned the audience on more than one occasion.
In the middle of the period, a huge glove save earned a great deal of
applause and appreciation from both the fans in the stands and his teammates on
the bench.
The Fireballs were working hard
right to the very end. Ryan S. helped
create turnovers in the neutral zone, and it was a play like this that led to
the final goal of the game. With
fourteen seconds left in regulation time, a mid-ice turnover resulted in the
puck being carried into White’s zone on Tony R.’s stick. With one opposing player skating between he
and Sam Z. to his right, Tony feathered a pass to his teammate, and Sam ripped
a shot on net, giving his team one final goal and a 4-0 win.
Fantastic effort, boys! This game will help our playoff record as we
head into the final two games of the season!
The next time we will gather as a team will be to take on ATOMc Black at
9:30am on Sunday, March 10th at Albert McCormick West. Remember the time change the night before: Spring
forward, Fall back! Have a great week!