Feb 11, 2013 | cshanks | 773 views
Muskies Start QF Series with a Good Weekend
The Bantam Muskies started the OMHA All-Ontario Quarter-finals this weekend against the Prince Edward County Kings and had a tie and a win to take a 3-1 points lead in the first to 6 series. On Saturday in Wellington the teams battled to a 2-2 tie and back in Lindsay on Sunday the Muskies earned a 4-3 win. This stretches the team's unbeaten streak to 7 games.
The Muskies started off game 1 with a bang going up 1-0 just over 3 minutes in as Caileb Duffy scored with assists going to Cameron Robinson and Liam Shanks. The Muskies then made it 2-0 on an unassisted break-away short-handed goal by Liam Shanks. However, the team played undisciplined for the balance of the 1st period and took 5 more penalties with the Kings taking advantage once to cut the lead to 2-1 after 1 period of play. Excellent penalty killing by Hunter Reedman, Garrett Fierheller, Curtis Appleton and Riley MacIver kept the damage to a minimum.
The 2nd period and early 3rd saw the team lose its intensity and play soft. Undisciplined play and selfish efforts saw the team get away from its gameplan as they were unable to recapture the dominating play from the first part of the 1st period. The end result saw PEC tie the game at 2 with about 4 minutes left. However, after that the Muskies again were able to pick-up their aggressive forecheck and pressed hard for the winner before the end of regulation only to be stoned on great chances by Zack Rhodes and Riley MacIver by the Kings goalie. The OT period saw the Muskies control the majority of play and have the balance of chances, including a breakaway by Robinson with 15 seconds left, but again the Kings goalie was able to close the door and preserve the 2-2 tie. The Muskies ended up outshooting the Kings 35-23. 3 stars of the game were Liam Shanks, Tanner King (who made some key saves to keep the game tied in the last few minutes and OT) and Curtis Appleton who had a strong defensive game.
On Sunday in game 2 the Muskies again came out strong. Strong forechecking by all 3 lines and good physical play kept the Kings pinned in their own end for the first 5 minutes of the game but the Muskies were unable to gain the early lead. The Muskies once again got into penalty trouble in the middle of the 1st and gave the Kings a 5 on 3 advantage. The Kings were able to score on both the 5 on 3 and 5 on 4 with 2 PP goals within a minute to take a 2-0 lead. However, unlike on Saturday the team was able to keep with the gameplan and were able to cut the lead to 2-1 before the end of the 1st on a goal by Matt Cooke with a great pass from Dawson Bruce and the 2nd assist going to Jaryd Lapointe.
The 2nd period again saw great forechecking by 3 lines with strong play from all the d-men as the Muskies pressed for the equalizer. At about the mid-way point the line of Dryden Brown, Drake McQuarrie and Cody Defreitas connected on a result of a good cycle play to tie the game at 2. Defreitas tipped in the point shot by Garrett Fierheller with a good pass from the corner by McQuarrie to get the other assist. The Muskies kept the pressure up and with 12 seconds to go in the period took a 3-2 lead with another point shot being deflected in, this time Caileb Duffy getting the goal with assists to Jaryd Lapointe and Cameron Robinson.
The 3rd period saw the Muskies play perhaps their best period of hockey as they continued to get pressure on the Kings and not allow for any pressure in their own end. The Kings goalie kept the lead at only 1 as he stopped multiple breakaways from Cameron Robinson, Dawson Bruce, Zack Rhodes, Matt Cooke and Caileb Duffy. Finally, with the goalie pulled the Muskies were able to score the insurance goal as Cameron Robinson put it into the empty net (assists to Liam Shanks and Riley MacIver). The Kings were able to get 1 back with 12 seconds left but the Muskies held on to take a 3-1 points lead in the Series. The Muskies outshoot the Kings in this game 31-17 and 3 stars of the game were Cody Defreitas, Drake McQuarrie and Zack Rhodes. Game 3 is in Picton next Saturday afternoon at 5:30 pm.