Elmvale – Sunday, October 26, 2014
6-0, ORO
Sunday afternoon the Thunder found themselves in one of our
rival’s backyards...the Coyotes of Elmvale.
After a tough loss Saturday, the coaches were curious to see how the
team would respond. We were confident
that they would come out hard and fast to prove themselves once again...and
they sure didn’t disappoint!
We asked the starting line to set the tempo for the game and to let Elmvale know the Thunder were there to compete. Caden, Jack and Taylor, along with Wesley and Owen did exactly as we asked – they took the puck from the opening face-off, got the puck deep into Elmvale’s end and pursued it relentlessly. Were it not for the Elmvale goaltender, it probably should have been up 1-0 after the first shift. The energy the starting line created was contagious on the bench as the next shift couldn’t wait to get on the ice and carry on the momentum. You could tell the boys were excited and ready to compete.
Like yesterday, but today in OUR favour, we dominated the Elmvale zone with tremendous puck pursuit and retrieval. Devin opened the scoring with great help by his line mates, Noal and Sammy, who combined to out-muscle two Elmvale defenders. Devin sent one of his famous hard wrist-shots to the roof of the net making it a one-nothing game. Noal, Sammy and Devin proved that hard forechecking leads to goals or great scoring chances. A big thanks goes out to the large Thunder crowd – who erupted loudly, bringing excitement and renewed passion to the boys. Scoring can sometimes be contagious as 37 seconds later Jack and Taylor combined on a sweet passing play to Caden, who made no mistake in ripping it past the Elmvale goalie.
Much of our dominated play in the Elmvale zone was due to the tremendous work of our defensemen on the blue line – the two pairs of Logan and Nick, and Wesley and Owen – made fantastic decisions on when to pinch to keep pucks deep in the Elmvale zone. Wesley continued his fine play by sending beauty passes and always being in the correct position to eliminate Elmvale scoring opportunities. Nicky and Logan are starting to play like seasoned veterans, able to read and react in unison with their partner. When Logan takes off on his customary coast-to-coast rushes, Nicky always puts himself in great defensive position. Speaking of coast-to-coast rushes...special mention goes to Owen who moved the puck like a pro today out of our end and into the Elmvale zone, generating several glorious scoring chances which sent his fans wild!
As the first period was drawing to a close, Caden was in great defensive position in our end and gained control of the puck behind our net. Showing great patience, he looked for an open man and found Jack streaking down the right hand boards and hit him in stride, sending Jack in alone! Jack made no mistake on his breakaway, beating the Elmvale goaltender high to the glove side and scored top-shelf...right where Mama keeps the cookies!!!
The boys continued their amazing play in both ends of the rink throughout the 2nd and 3rd periods, especially Taylor who was excellent in the offensive zone and in great position all game long in our zone. Great work! One “TSN Top 10” moment came when Caden back-handed his own rebound top shelf into the Elmvale net...worthy of Joe Bowen’s “Holy Mackinaw”!
On a night when he wasn’t as busy as the previous game, Jenson remained sharp and focused and made several key saves, with the show-stopper being a break-away save to kill any Elmvale momentum. Our net minder had a well-deserved shut-out today!
Great job today, guys! Way to rebound today after a tough loss yesterday. You showed great character, and we are proud of you!