Oro vs. Stayner: 1-0, ORO
Saturday morning had the Thunder visiting the Cyclones in
Stayner in our final meeting of the regular season. We were expecting a tough match as the home
squad was coming off a Silver Stick winning weekend. Our pre-game warm-up and chalk talk went well
and the coaches felt the team was prepared and ready to go.
As the puck was dropped the team seemed a little flat and out of sync. An early breakaway by a speedy Cyclone forward was given up but true to his nature, Jensen stood tall and made a key early save to keep his team all square with the home side. As the first period came to a close the two teams were deadlocked.
As the second period opened the boys were getting frustrated with the lack of success around the Stayner net. A lot of credit goes to Stayner players as they played with a lot of passion and speed. When offensive chances were created, shots were being blocked or turned away by a strong Cyclone goalie. The second finished the same as the first...deadlocked at zero.
As the team huddled with coaches before the third started, the message was simply “Play like a team...not as individuals...and determine how you want things to finish”. To the players credit the third period was their best of the game. Players started to support puck carriers much better and short, crisp passes led to an increase in speed through the neutral zone.
As the pace quickened, forwards attacked the Stayner net only to be turned away time and time again. Both sets of forward groups when turned away competed for loose pucks and made some excellent passes to open defencemen. Our D-men – Logan, Wesley, Nicky and Owen - made great decisions to either put pucks to the net or to an open partner. As time continued to tick away, it looked as though the match may have ended in a tie. When the possibility of that happening was mentioned, the players stated that was unacceptable and they would take matters into their own hands.
With 5 minutes remaining, a solid shift was started with a face-off win by Devin. Logan ripped a hard wrist shot which was turned aside. Jack and Taylor jumped on the loose puck to create room for Devin to come in and put a wrap around attempt into the Stayner cage.
With less than 5 minutes remaining and protecting a one goal lead, the boys locked things down defensively. Our wingers, Sammy, Noal, Taylor and Jack controlled the boards and out-muscled Stayner defencemen to get pucks out of our end. Caden and Devin won key face-offs to our defencemen who sent crisp passes to forwards leaving the zone.
As time expired on a 1-0 win the celebration was reserved as the boys knew they were fortunate to be heading home with two points. Coaches and players chalked this one up to a bad day and vowed to be better the next time they hit the ice in Collingwood.