Mar 19, 2019 | Mike Willson | 1430 views
MD Peewee White delivers a strong message...
Waterloo opened the first game of the playoffs with a fight to the bitter end.
The wolves did a great job of containing Cambridge to the boards. Waterloo is on to Cambridge's play as they cut off the passes up the middle and tied up anyone who came to the net. It was merely a matter of time before Waterloo saw an opening and took advantage of Cambridge. Chaz Proulx weaved his way up the ice. Once over the blue line, he let the puck rip. It clearly beat the Cambridge netminder high stick side to open the scoring. Waterloo did not let Cambridge get setup as they put pressure on any player that had the puck. When the ice settled, it was Waterloo 1 Cambridge 0.
Waterloo treated the hawks to more of the same pressure in the second. It did not matter what Cambridge did, the team kept them at bay. When called upon, Austin Zappitelli, was stellar. He flashed the glove, kicked out a pad or two to do his best to keep the lead. Cambridge got a lucky bounce as the puck turned into a pinball that made its way off a skate, over a stick, hitting a post and then in. Waterloo was still in control after two periods of play and a tie game.
Waterloo turned up the pressure resulting in a slightly higher than normal series of penalties. A scrambled play in front of Waterloo resulted in a Cambridge goal that gave them the lead 2 - 1. The wolves skated right back up the ice less than a minute later. Gavin Wilson dished the puck over to Andrew Z-D that caught nothing but net. Back to a tie game. Waterloo handed their opponents a two man advantage late in the game but showed Cambridge that it would take more than that to put the puck in the net. The crowd was treated to a nail biting, successful penalty kill. An unfortunate late period goal gave Cambridge the lead. Waterloo pulled their goalie in an effort to skate out of the arena with the tie, but they could not find the back of the net.
Excellent effort boys, tough loss. Your message was received. Game ON.