Oct 24, 2018 | pdavis | 504 views
Game 4: vs Sturgeon
Downtown Fenelon Falls would be the site of our Muskies 1st road game after starting the season with 3 games at home.
Our last two games had been against opponents that our Muskies handled fairly easily with the scores and the play being heavily one sided.
The ease of the last two games was a bit of a worry because the kids had not been challenged to a great degree and some bad habits began to form. The passing began to slow down and the positioning looked a little sloppier than it had in the first game of the season and most of the second game.
Sturgeon was going to be a strong challenge and would not be a pushover like the last two teams our Muskies had played.
The puck dropped at 6:06 and it only took 23 seconds for the Thunder to strike as they fired a shot into our end from just inside the blue line and caught our defence and goalie off guard as it went right into the right corner of the net. 1-0 Sturgeon.
Justin M. was under the weather for this tilt but managed to gear up and step between the pipes to defend the net and help his team.
Sturgeon would strike again before the end of the period with a goal off a rebound in front of the net with only 1:11 left to play. 2-0 Sturgeon.
Our boys were trying to do everything solo and some bad habits were showing with a lack of passing that they had done so well early in this season and throughout practice. There seemed to be less cycling and moving the puck around in the offensive zone and using the defence as the quarterback.
That changed a bit with 7:41 left in the 2nd period...Jack E. took the puck on the left side of the Thunder netminder and fired a shot. The goalie made the save but the rebound bounced out in front of the net and Max W. jumped all over it. Max W. made no mistake and fired it under the Sturgeon goalies right pad and into the net. 2-1 Thunder.
Sturgeon did not roll over and did not let up one bit as they continued to move the puck down the ice with good passing through the neutral zone to pressure our defence.
With 5:37 left to play in the 2nd...Sturgeon managed to strike again by sending two forwards to the net to pressure our defence and they squeaked a rebound past Justin. 3-1 Sturgeon. ARGHHHHH!!!!!
With 3:31 left in the 2nd period our Muskies gave themselves a much needed break when Owen D. picked up the puck in his own zone and started skating down the left wing. Josh G. was skating up the middle through the neutral zone and yelled for the pass which could be heard throughout the very quiet arena. Josh G. took the pass and had an open run to the net and skated into the zone and was 1 on 1 with the goalie.
Josh cut slightly left and snapped the puck over the Thunder goalies blocker side to cut the lead again to one goal!!!! Sturgeon 3-2
Both teams went into the dressing room as the zamboni came out to clean the ice and our coaches must have had a good talk with our boys because they came out for the 3rd with more pep.
They were starting to outplay the Thunder team but unfortunately the passing was still missing for the most part and they could not solve the Sturgeon goalie. The frustration was felt on the ice and in the stands as our Muskies took 3 straight penalties in the last 5 minutes which prevented them from mustering a solid assault.
There would be no further scoring in the game and when the buzzer sounded the scoreboard would signal our first loss of the season. 3-2
On a positive note, it was a good lesson learned that in order to be successful the boys have to play as a team. With the play improving as the game progressed, it was evident that we could and will beat the Thunder team this season.
It is a long season and there are lots of games left.....our boys will get them next time!!!!