From
Team Correspondent Curtis:
Hello sports fans, and welcome to Sports Desk. We have a fantastic game to report on tonight from the igloo of Albert East where the Wolves played against the Brantford 99ers, but first let's catch up on the action from the two previous games.
Back on November 22nd, the boys zig-zagged south to Brantford for a Friday night game. It was Alex's turn to play between the pipes, but Emmett was there on standby. The puck dropped at 7:05, and in less than a minute Alex makes a low save against a Brantford breakaway. The Waterloo forwards play their positions well and the defence do a great job of limiting the number of shots on net. At one point we see Casey B deek around the Saint's entire defence and fire a shot, but no goal. Soon after, Grant goes long, takes a look, then a shot, but saved. The period ends scoreless.
The second period starts slow but picks up as Ben cuts into the neutral zone, passes up to Josh, he takes a shot, and saved again. Halfway through the period Ben passes to Michael, who passes it to Josh, Josh finds the angle and GOAL! Waterloo takes a 1 - 0 lead. A minute later Colin screams along the boards, gets a shot, but another save by the massive Brantford goalie. Michael gets two shots in the final minute of the period but no goals, and the period ends 1 - 0 Waterloo.
The third period starts fast as Colin shows some nice moves but waits a little too long and needs to dive over the goalie. At 6 minutes to go, we see Dion chasing down a Brantford breakaway, and as usual, he wins the drag race and slaps the puck away. A minute later there's a dangerous scramble in front of Alex, Waterloo is having trouble clearing it, and GOAL by Brantford, making it a 1 - 1 game. The period is being played hot here with lots of end-to-end plays, but Waterloo can't be worn down. The Jacob-Xavier-Carter offensive line are showing some great passing plays here but can't quite finish it.
With a minute to go Peter goes clear, gets a shot, and...saved! The seconds are ticking down, and there's a miscue with the Waterloo bench - they only have 4 players on the ice! With 20 seconds to go, Coach Rob sends Spencer onto the ice, and right away Casey B leaves a nice juicy puck for him. Spencer takes aim, the shot, and he hits the net on the long side! Waterloo wins the game in the dying seconds. Way to go Spencer, way to go Waterloo!
A few days later the boys hit the ice on the Sportsfield on Monday night on November 25th against the Junior Kitchener Rangers. Emmett is taking his turn in net for the game. The boys hit Kitchener hard at the beginning and kept at it. The period ends scoreless but only because Waterloo couldn't finish the many scoring chances they made for themselves.
The second period goes much the same as the first, with Waterloo outperforming the Rangers but without getting on the board until less than three minutes to go. Jacob goes hard into the Ranger's end, he passes it to Peter, Peter takes the shot, and Goal! Waterloo takes a 1 - 0 lead, which stays that way until the third period. In the third Waterloo gets a face-off deep in the Kitchener end. Peter wins the draw and gets it back to Zack. Josh ties up the Kitchener winger and buys time for Zack to get a shot off. Peter jumps on the rebound for a shot and another rebound. Josh and Curtis both pounce on the second rebound with Josh winning the race, and in typical Josh style he pounds it in! Waterloo takes a 2 - 0 lead. Later in the period, Kitchener goes on a dangerous rush, they get past the Waterloo defence, they take the shot, someone gets the deflection, but Emmett sees it coming and makes the save. And that's how the game ends, Waterloo wins the match-up, 2 - 0.
And now for the Saturday night home game with the Wolves at home in the Waterloo Igloo, aka Albert East, against the other Brantford team, the 99ers. The concern is that the Saints from the week before were the "B" and now they meet the "A" squad. Let's see how it plays out.
Early in the first, Jacob aggressively goes in for the steal, he goes for a shot but ends up behind the net, still with the puck. Xavier finds his familiar spot in front of the net. Jacob passes up front and Xavier taps it in like a pro golfer with an easy putt. The Wolves are at 1 - 0. But that's not all. Halfway through the period the puck is bouncing in front of the Brantford goalie, Carter passes the puck to Xavier, Xavier to Jacob, and Jacob smacks it in, and Waterloo pads their lead to 2. The game is a fast one, with constant plays going end-to-end. Brantford takes a major slap-shot, and Alex makes the highlight-reel glove save. Brantford has a girl on their team and she gets as many shots than anybody else on the team. Late in the first period she drives toward the net, takes the shot, gets a piece of the rebound, but Alex makes a serious pad save to keep the puck out.
By the time the second period starts it becomes clear that Don Cherry is on the minds of the referees because they decide to just let the kids play-on rather than call the minor and semi-minor infractions. Also in the second period we see the Brantford team getting a lot of shots, but as the score attests, Alex is ready for all-comers. Mid-way through the period it looks like Waterloo gets a goal but it is waived off when the referees notice the Waterloo goal is off the mooring. Less than a minute later, James passes to Xavier, and Xavier puts some muscle into his shot and snipes it in, making it a 3 - 0 game. The referees called it unassisted, but everyone else saw it differently.Despite the score Brantford is not rolling over for the Waterloo boys. Late in the period we see a Gretzky-esque rush. The tiny Brantford player deeks all the way into the Waterloo end, takes the shot, but is stoned by Alex.
Now for the third period. Still within the first minute, Colin passes to Spencer from behind the net, the shot, and GOAL! It's now a 4 - 0 game. Despite the fact that the score is running up a little bit, everyone is playing their hardest all the way to the end, even if they're slowing down a little. This period sees a lot of body contact but the referees may have forgotten that it's not really supposed to go that way. No harm no foul, I suppose. The game is riveting to the end, with Alex getting a hard-fought shut out, and the Wolves a well-deserved win.