Feb 28, 2015 | Martin Mirt | 699 views
Game 25
Off to Brantford to play the 99'ers. Let's keep the winning streak alive.
Nothing fancy here, both teams have been on lengthy winning streaks. Opening shift was slow and we were running around a bit in our end. We take a penalty early. 6 seconds into the penalty the 99'ers get a shot and pot the rebound for a 1-0 lead. Next shift,we need to rebound and get skating. 30 seconds into the next shift Carr-Pries gets the puck to Beech who gets a shot on net. There is a big juicy rebound and Hooper is there to tie things up at 1's. The first ends with the shots 9-6 for the 99'ers. 30 seconds into the 2nd, Pernfuss picks up the puck and flies down the right side. He cuts across the crease and patiently waits for the opening between the pad and the post and put's it away for the 2-1 lead. A little over a minute later on the power play Haffey has the puck down low and feeds it behind the net to Hooper. Hooper moves the puck to Carr-Pries below the hash marks on the boards and he walks in and snaps one through the five hole to make it 3-1 Wolves. With 4 1/2 to go on the power play Carr-Pries feeds Haffey who gets the puck to Logel on the left side. Logel makes his way in and let's one go into the back of the net and it's 4-1 Wolves. Late in the 2nd we're on the penalty kill and we hold the puck in at their blue line and dump it back in. Their D fires it up the boards and the forward pick's it up at our blue line and is away on a break. He put's it away and it's 4-2 Wolves. With 14 seconds left in the 2nd period Haffey crosses the blue line on the right side and drops it back Hooper. Hooper let's a shot go on net and the goalie gives up a rebound. Haffey cutting to the net back hands the loose puck just inside the left post to make it 5-2 Wolves. The second ends with shots 8-4 for the Wolves. The 3rd begins and the play is moving up and down the ice. We take two separate penalties in the first 5 minutes of the 3rd and are able to kill them off and even had a few good scoring chances. With 3 1/2 minutes to go in the 3rd we give up the puck in the neutral zone and the 99'ers pick up the puck and #13 hits the blue line with speed and blows by our D on the left side and cuts in and gets the puck to go 5 hole and it's 5-3. With 3 minutes to go the 99'ers take a penalty and we're back on the power play. We take another penalty with 2 1/2 to go and we go to 4 on 4. The 99'ers pull their goalie and try to take advantage of the extra attacker. With a just over a minute left in the period the 99'ers are able to get a shot off from down low on the left and it finds it's way in to make it 5-4 Wolves. We have a couple opportunities where we gain the 99'ers zone with an empty net but either missed the net or didn't get a shot off. With 47 seconds to go we take another penalty and it's a 6 on 3 with the face off in our end. We win the face off and get the puck out. Our first penalty ends and we get the extra man back. We pick off a pass at centre but can't get it deep and the 99'ers chip it in and go to the net. They get a shot on net and there is a scramble and with 13 seconds to go the 99'ers score their 3rd goal in 3 minutes to tie the game at 5. That was our final score. Final shots were 24-23 for the 99'ers. No boots tonight. 3 power play goals and one with the extra attacker. The game was in the bag, we had put in the effort and even with some sloppy play we potted 4 in the second playing the way we are capable of playing. The 99'ers tried to get under our skin and drew 4 penalties in the 3rd. The undisciplined play and poor decisions were our own undoing. We allowed ourselves to get sucked in and got away from the dominant style of play we have been developing and executing in the past few weeks. We need to learn from this and become better because of it. When games get tough we need to draw on the feeling of the empty pit in your stomach and refuse to allow yourselves to go there again. So we pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and decide to be who we can be. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow night with a sense of urgency to get the job done and not take your foot off the the gas till victory is yours. Tomorrow we .....
Burn the Ships!!
Coach Martin