O.M.H.A. Finalists held at bay by Coyotes
Game 1 of the Atom OMHA finals was
in Burford, Ontario. The starting of the
series began with an opening ceremony which included player and coach
introductions and the singing of the national anthem. The South Bruce team would have their hands
full as the Coyotes came out hard and fast with great puck distribution, hard
fore checking and positional play.
The South Bruce team continued to attack but struggled to find a way around the Burford defense. With the play going hard back and forth, Burford would find their way on the score board late in the first period to give them a 1 goal lead heading into the second. The second period saw both teams battling hard with the South Bruce team continuing to struggle to get past the defense and get pucks to the net. Burford would continue to attack the South Bruce net and get rewarded with a goal midway through the period. With neither team ready to let up, both teams would continue to battle hard but Burford would find a way to add two more goals to end the period up by four. Not ready to give up the South Bruce team would come out flying in the third finding a way to beat the Coyotes goalie nine seconds in which seemed to get the South Bruce team pumped up for the rest of the game. South Bruce continued to press hard throughout the period and started to find ways to get the puck to the net which resulted in scoring opportunities that forced the Burford goalie to make some difficult saves. Burford would also continue to pressure getting many scoring chances which would reward them with two more goals ending the game in favor of the Coyotes 6-1. Following the game the Burford team hosted a post-game meal for the South Bruce team and parents as well as presented the South Bruce team with a token of sportsmanship.
Game 2 was witness to a South Bruce team that was ready to put up a fight for the championship from the moment the puck hit the ice. South Bruce would hit the score board first just 41 seconds into the game and the momentum just kept on going. South Bruce would strike again just over a minute later to give them a two goal lead. Both teams would continue to play hard for the rest of the period with neither team finding any more points to add to the score board. South Bruce would start the second period with the same fire and fury as the first as they put up another marker just 37 seconds into the second to give them a three goal lead. Just two and a half minutes later South Bruce would strike again to give them a four goal lead. The Coyotes would not be tamed so easily as they would answer back at the ten minute mark of the second to cut the lead to three. The third period would show both teams not willing to give up the next goal as the play kept going end to end with little to show on the score board until late in the third when Burford would find a way to sneak a puck past the South Bruce net minder to cut the lead to 2 with three and a half minutes to go. As the final buzzer would sound ending the game the puck would finds its way into the South Bruce net to end the game 4 to 3 in favour of the South Bruce team. Was the puck in the net before the buzzer went? Who knows, most believed it wasn’t, but at the end of the day; did it matter? …………….no, so - whatever!
With the first two games over and the series tied at 1 the South Bruce team would head back to the Coyotes den for game three. This game saw a South Bruce team much different from game 2 as things did not seem to go their way. Was it the drive, was it a week of no hockey, was it a tired team from a busy week of March break activities, who knows, but one thing is for sure it was not the same team. The Coyotes started the game hard as they would hit the score board early and often in the first as the period ended with the Burford team up four goals at the end of the period. The South Bruce team started the second period hard, not willing to give up, as they pushed hard to get on the score board, but the puck did not want to take a friendly bounce our way as we were unable to get one past the Coyote net minder. Burford would find a way to put two more markers on the score board before the buzzer would sound to end the second. The third period saw a South Bruce team down by six yet continuing to push hard and ready to give up, but for every hard battle won there would be little reward as the game would end giving the Coyotes a 2-1 series lead.
Back on home turf the South Bruce team was ready for game four as they were determined to push the OMHA final to a fifth game. Every one knew it was going to be a tough game and what they had to do if they were going to win. All fired up and ready to go South Bruce came ready to play as they pushed hard from the moment the puck hit the ice. Both teams battled hard as one team was ready to be crowned champions and one team not willing to let that happen. It would take almost eight minutes of play for the first goal of the game and unfortunately it was not in favour of the South Bruce team. Burford would build off the momentum of the first goal and get a second with just seconds left in the period to give the Coyotes a 2 goal lead heading to the second. South Bruce would continue to push hard in the second, but would struggle to get pucks to the net to generate scoring opportunities until late in the second to open the scoring for the South Bruce team. Burford would also continue to press and be rewarded with 2 goals ending the second with the Coyotes leading by three. In the third period both teams would make the final push to get the win as the South Bruce squad would get a goal early in the period to pump life back into the team and shift momentum. However, it seemed that the harder we pushed the Coyotes would push just as hard or harder back as they seemed to have an answer for everything we threw at them. The Coyotes would muster up a way to get one last shot past the South Bruce net minder before the end of the third making the final score 5-2 to give them the victory, ending the series, and the hunt for the OMHA Atom C championship.
Point getters for the series were, Jon E., Blake E., Zach V., Tyler H., Ethan D., Noah W., Nigel K., Gil S., Ashlyn B. and superb goal tending by Landon W. stopping 135 shots in 4 games.
I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of myself, the coaching staff and the parents to say CONGRATULATIONS to the entire team! You have all played very well and you should all be proud of the accomplishments of the entire season, WELL DONE!!