Dec 05, 2012 | cshanks | 620 views
Bounce Back Win
The Bantam Muskies bounced back from a rough Midland SilverStick Tournament to beat Clarington 4-3 in league play last night. The Muskies had a full team effort with all 15 players playing smart and hard. It was a positive sign for the coaching staff to see the players bounce back after a rough weekend.
The Muskies got out to a 1-0 lead late in the 1st with a strong rush by Caileb Duffy that saw Dawson Bruce net the rebound. Assists went to Duffy and Matt Cooke. The team continued to forecheck hard throughout the 2nd period and dominated the majority of the play but couldn't score to go up 2. Later in the 2nd period Clarington got a good bounce after the puck deflected off of a few skaters to tie the game at 1. The Muskies showed good resiliency and re-gained the lead 2-1 less than 30 seconds later with a strong forecheck again from the line of Duffy, Cooke and Bruce. Dawson Bruce netted his 2nd of the game with assists to Duffy and Riley MacIver.
The Muskies came out flying in the 3rd and took their 1st 2 goal lead of the game 40 seconds into the period with a nice 3 way passing play with Cameron Robinson scoring and assists going to Zack Rhodes and Liam Shanks. The team kept the pressure on and went up 4-1 on a powerplay goal from Robinson with 8 minutes left. Assists went to Zack Rhodes and Caileb Duffy.
The Muskies then got into some penalty trouble and had to play shorthanded for the final 6 minutes and allowed Clarington to climb back into it with a powerplay goal at the 3 minute mark and another goal at the 1 minute mark to make it a 1 goal game. The final minute saw 3 key defensive face-offs won by Liam Shanks with strong goaltending by Tanner King and defensive play by Riley MacIver, Garrett Fierheller and forward Cody Defreitas.
This was an important bounce back game for the team after playing some very good competition in the Silverstick. After battling hard and coming up just short against Innisil 4-3 in the opener, with excellent goaltending from Tanner King and defensive play from Curtis Appleton and Jaryd Lapointe. The goals were scored by Cameron Robinson (2) and Dawson Bruce with assists to Caileb Duffy (2), Liam Shanks, Drake McQuarrie and Cody Defreitas. The team then fell 5-0 to Caledonia (with strong play from Zack Rhodes and Dryden Brown) and 7-0 to eventual tournament champion Midland. Hunter Reedman showed some toughness in this game after getting up from a tough hit from behind to re-enter the action and battle until the end.
The team hopes to use this tournament as a learning tool to understand how hard they need to work to have success in the playoffs. The Muskies will look to build a winning streak with a home game this Sunday against Whitby White.