Silver Stick
Semi-Final Game
Oro vs. Wasaga
Beach: 6-2, ORO
As the sun rose on Sunday morning the Thunder found
themselves in the semi-final locked up with the home team from Wasaga
Beach. The coaching staff had done some
pre-scouting and knew we were in for a tough match. We challenged the boys to out-compete the
home team as we knew their line-up had lots of high-end talent!
Halfway through the first both coaching staffs were pushing their players hard to open the scoring for their respective teams. Luck was on our side as Taylor created a turnover deep in the Stars’ zone. With great puck support, Jack wheeled in to retrieve the loose puck. With patience and his head up, he spotted Devin in a quiet area of the ice who ripped home the opening marker. As the first period closed, the Thunder found themselves up one in a highly entertaining first period.
Both teams raised the level of their game during the second and quality scoring chances were turned aside by both goalies. Mid-way through the second a great solo effort by Noal led directly to the second goal. With blinding speed and determination, Noal quickly caught a Stars’ forward in the neutral zone and stripped him of the puck. In the blink on an eye, Noal weaved his way into the Stars’ zone and spotted Caden in the high slot. With some incredible moves by Caden to shake himself loose from a Stars’ defender, he launched his patented high-hard wrister to the top corner of the net. This shot was so hard it must have been whistling a tune as it went past the ear of the Stars’ goalie!
Up two, coaches and players expected a real push back from the Wasaga squad. To the Stars’ credit they didn’t fold their tent. The Stars #14 Ethan D. Showed some real flash as he streaked down the right hand boards, pulled an incredible toe drag and slid the puck into the Thunder net, putting the contest back up for grabs. The second finished with the Thunder up 2-1.
With 12 minutes on the board both teams lined up ready to battle to the end. Coaches from both teams stressed to players to bear down and dig deep. All fans were treated to a tremendous final period!
As the puck hit the frozen pad, Devin won another face-off to Nick. With his head up, Nicky sent a great pass to Taylor. With speed and acceleration, Taylor created some open ice and spotted a streaking Devin heading for the net. With a seeing eye pass, he hit Devin. Devin, with magical hands, pulled the puck wide to force the Stars’ goalie out of position and quickly brought it back to find an open cage before him. Awesome goal, guys!
The two-goal lead was short lived as 10 seconds later another top Stars’ forward quickly found a seam to exploit and found himself in alone. With quick hands and a great move the puck barely trickled over the goal line to reduce the lead to one.
This quick goal sent a shock wave through the bench and quickly forced the team to re-group. During our pre-game warm-up this coach had a good chat with our mighty power forward Sammy. I told Sam that I had a feeling about him today. Sam- you battled hard all day and it is something we can expect and count on all the time. On an incredible solo effort, Sam raced down the entire length of the ice. His amazing hustle forced a Stars’ defender to panic and mis-handle the puck. With a quick stick, Sam stripped the puck away and wrapped the puck into the net. An amazing solo effort, Sammy, and a real turning point in the game!
With only seven minutes remaining and the Thunder up two once again, the coaches stressed the importance of solid defence and to make smart, safe plays in their own end. With Caden in great position to support the Defence, he found a loose puck on his stick. With great awareness and his soft hands, he sent an incredible saucer pass to Jack who was in all alone from centre. With blinding speed he wouldn’t be caught and it was down to him and the keeper of the cage. Jack reached into his bag of tricks and pulled a sweet deke to leave the goalie wondering where he went and put the Thunder in full control of the game.
With a three goal lead and the Thunder nursing it home, the Stars continued to attack and pulled their goalie early to try and get back into the game. The forwards and defence stayed poised and determined to protect the house and did an outstanding job. In the final moments several players engaged in Rugby scrum just inside the Thunder blue line. With players not willing to give an inch, battle was waged for 20-30 seconds as a loose puck was kicked out. Devin was able to send a seeing eye wrister the length of the ice to find the centre of a vacated net to complete the days scoring and seal a 6-2 victory!
With 6 goals on the board you would think the forwards were the stars of the game. As good as they were, our goaltender and Defence were absolutely remarkable. As mentioned earlier, Wasaga had two of the best forwards we have seen all season long. Both were big, physical and incredibly gifted with the puck. Owen, Wesley, Nicky and Logan- you each had a remarkable game. When Stars’ players attacked you forced them wide to eliminate their space in which to operate. Your backward skating and pivots are amazing. When you forced turnovers you controlled the puck, created passing lanes with ease and quickly moved the puck to our forwards. You made it an incredibly frustrating day for the Wasaga forwards and that is a true compliment to each of you!
To mention Jensen last is probably a disservice on my part. What an amazing game between the pipes today, young man! You are the backbone of this team and a true leader. Your skills were on full display this morning. Your butterfly saves followed by glove and block saves were unreal to watch. Wasaga had excellent shooters but you shut them down time and time again. I’m so relieved you’re wearing RED and WHITE and back-stopping the Thunder!