How the West Was (Mostly) Won..., News, Major Atom, 2013-2014, AAA (Waterloo Minor Hockey)

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Oct 14, 2013 | Steve McGeown | 1335 views
How the West Was (Mostly) Won...
Carrying a season long unbeaten streak into a stretch of 5 games against Western division teams, Waterloo came away with victories in 4 of the 5 games.  At times Waterloo appeared completely dominant, especially in victories against Chatham Kent 7-0 and Windsor 5-0.   At times our play was a bit ragged, but higher skill and some determination allowed us to pull out a pair of 6-2 victories over the Lambton Sting.  However, inconsistent play proved to be too much against a high skill team like the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs, despite a valiant effort to pull back from two 3-goal deficits, as the Waterloo Major Atom AAA team encountered its first taste of defeat this season, losing 4-5 in a last second nail biter.   

Heading into Sarnia, the boys shook off the road legs and pretty quickly went to work.   The line of Maloney, Parsons and Young lit it up early and often this game.  Kyle Maloney lead the way with 2 goals and three assists, Owen Parsons fired in a pair and Preston Young followed with a single marker and two assists.  Ryan McGeown and Luke Ronson fed the hot line with slant passes from the back on breakouts for assists.  Jake McDonald finished off the scoring assisted by Cooper Way.  Misha Stastna stayed solid for the 6-2 win.  

Next up Chatham Kent Cyclones came into town and were pretty much greeted by the same combination as the previous game with the same general results.  Kyle Maloney lead the way again with 4 assists, with Preston Young notching the hat trick and Owen Parsons getting the single marker and an assist.  Jaxson Murray had a goal and an assist.  Jake Thompson had a pair of assists.  Ryan Hanson and Jake McDonald contributed with singles, with Luke Ronson, Austin Stemmler and Jake Anderson providing assists from the back line.   Marshall Nicholls had to remain sharp mentally under limited work which is always challenging to earn his 7-0 shutout.  

Possibly our best team game of the season to date, Waterloo whacked almost 40 shots at the beleaguered Windsor goalkeepers.  The 5-0 score win over Windsor was only limited by their heroics.  The Waterloo Wolves showed their typical balanced attack in this game. where literally every single skater, forward and defense, actually registered at least one shot on goal.  Jaxson Murray was a force this game both defensively and offensively, as he played his best game of the season notching a pair, back-checking very hard and achieving a plus 4 rating.    Jake McDonald also had a pair, with the single to Jake Thompson.  Also earning assists on this day were Spencer Young, Kyle Maloney, Luke Ronson, Ryan Hanson and Preston Young.  Misha Stastna didn't see much rubber as the entire Waterloo defense corps played outstanding and held Windsor to 9 shots mostly on outside shooting, but Misha still had to stay mentally focused to earn his 5-0 shutout. 

Against the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs, Waterloo started off with some jump but a couple of mental errors and the highly skilled Chiefs best player capitalized, and Waterloo soon found itself in a 0-3 deficit early in the first period.   To their credit, Waterloo didn't give up, and actually out-shot the Chiefs 13-6 in the first period.   They were rewarded with a nice breakaway goal from Jake McDonald set up by Kyle Maloney,  McDonald would then return the favor to set up Maloney and it looked like we would start reeling the game back in.  However, Wolves gave up two short-handed goals while on the power-play that just killed their momentum at crucial points in the game, while Chiefs scored on the powerplay and that was the difference.  Despite a valiant effort with a pulled goalie where Cooper Way missed the tip-in from the Maloney feed by inches that would have tied the game in the last few seconds, indeed pulling it back from a three goal deficit for the second time in the game, it just wasn't meant to be on this day.   Kyle Maloney had the hat trick and a four point afternoon, Jake McDonald with the goal and the assist, Owen Parsons had 2 assists, and single assists went out to Jake Thompson and Preston Young.    Same effort and clean up the mental mistakes in practice and the Wolves look forward to responding in the return engagement when EMC comes to our barn.  

For the Thanksgiving return engagement from the boys from Sarnia, the Sting came to town with a win under their belt and a lot more jump than we are normally accustomed to.  Team defense however did a good job of forcing outside shooting and Misha Stastna did a great job to remain technically sound with his rebound control to keep things well managed back there until Waterloo could find its rhythm and its sniping late in the first.    This time it would  be the Cooper Way, Spencer Young, Jake McDonald line that would have a particularly strong game.  Each member of the line did a great job of getting pucks to the net and each line member was rewarded with a goal and an assist.  Kyle Maloney would have two goals, Preston Young would have two assists, Owen Parsons would get the single assist on the Maloney markers.  Ryan Hanson would score a trademark Hanson goal (albeit only the puck went in, not him this time) assisted from Jaxson Murray.  Ryan McGeown would contribute 2 assists from the back line.  Misha Stastna would make some key saves at key moments to ensure the 6-2 victory.