No zebras in Fergus, News, Minor Peewee, 2012-2013, Select (Waterloo Minor Hockey)

Hello folks, and welcome to Waterloo Sports Desk. Tonight we have a Minor Peewee game to report from the evening of Sunday, February 24th. The Wolves of Waterloo visited Centre-Wellington (C-W) in Fergus - the home of the Highland Games. The Highland Games always have some drama, which includes men in kilts tossing cabers, tossing heavy stones, and tossing their lunch after eating too much haggis. The hockey game had its share of drama as well. As the expected start time of 6:30 came and went, the C-W team had only 8 players and no referees! The game was delayed, and the fans started to get fidgety - partly because of the drama, but mostly because the straight-backed wooden benches weren't built for loitering. The refs were eventually declared a no-show, so the C-W coaches put on the stripes and hit the ice. Most of the C-W team was still away at a tournament and didn't arrive until halfway through the first period. If they were playing late on Sunday, one can only assume they did well at their tournament. Will they be too tired to play effectively, or will they still be riding an adrenaline high? Time will tell.

Emmett takes the start in net, and Bryce was capably filling in for Spencer. On the puck drop, it's all Waterloo. They're playing hard in the C-W end, but unfortunately the first minute passes without a Waterloo goal. As the play comes back to the Waterloo end, the Wolves' defense is really shining with one strong play after another. As the period counts down, the play goes into the C-W end. They try to clear it by passing it out to Ian, but clearly they don't know how wrong of a choice that is. Ian fires it right back toward the net and Xavier tips it past a helpless C-W goalie! It's 1-0 for Waterloo, a score that holds until the end of the period.

As the second period gets underway it becomes clear that the C-W players are not tired from their tournament. On the contrary, they seem quite energized. Early in the period, Waterloo puts together a few nice odd-man rushes but can't manage to capitalize on them. Then, they start to get sloppy as the period counts down. There's a scramble in front of Chris, he makes a save, then another, C-W makes a pass out front, and GOAL! C-W scores with a nice backhander. The game is tied at one, and that's how the period ends.

Now for the third period. C-W quickly rings one off the post and keeps their energy up. Jeremy gets close with a dangle but is shut down. Josh launches a solo break but no dice. We're running out of time because of the late start so the clock is running down and the Zamboni is waiting in the wings. Down to the last minute and C-W flies down the ice with a solo breakaway. He skates down the boards then cuts sharply to fling a back-hander past Chris for the go-ahead goal. Waterloo pulls the goalie but can't tie it up. The game ends with C-W winning 2 -1.