Nov 05, 2016 | jmcgregor | 944 views
Dangles cele salvages team effort!
In game two of the Fire on Ice tournament in Rochester the Dunny Peewee A Stratford Aces faced off against the Peterborough Ice Kats. The Aces played a solid hockey game and if not for a five minute whoops the game would not have had the dramatics that it did late in a 4-3 Aces victory.
The Aces played strong from puck drop and were rewarded in the first period when Lauren Taylor received a pass from Kayla Wieringa and fired a low shot past the Ice Kat keeper. The play was kept alive at the blue line on a good pinch by Caleigh Webb on the right wall which allowed the Taylor, Wieringa and Chelsea Savelle line to create a turnover on the forecheck which resulted in the goal. The Aces were forced to kill a penalty near the end of the first period that preserved the score heading into the second.
Text book penalty killing by Reese Reinecker and Avery Wildgust as well as the defence of Jesse Dietrich, Reese Ostryiznick, Olivia Brock and Keira Dietz all took turns killing the time off the clock and not allowing much to be set up by the Ice Kats.
The second period saw the teams trade goals. The Aces struck to go up 2-0 when again pressure from the forecheck of the Aces created chaos which allowed room down low in the Ice Kat zone. Madi Cardno always buzzing in the offensive zone helped keep the puck in and chipped it low to Raelyn Pennington who found a dead zone for the puck which Kennedy McGregor scooped up and wrapped around the net beating the goaltender to the left post.
The Aces continued to control the play with lots of pressure and action in the Ice Kat zone and seemed to be in cruise control. However you have to give the Ice Kats credit there was no quit in them on this day. The series of strange events began late in the second when a generous bounce off the end boards came out the far side of the net allowing the Kats to score making it 2-1. The period ended and as the third started Wieringa restored the Aces two goal cushion. This time it was started by Savelle on the left side getting a puck deep which Taylor passed to Wieringa. Wieringa walked out from behind the net and fired a shot off the post and in for a beauty.
The Kats kept coming though and some uncharacteristic play and strange events coupled with good Ice Kat perseverance saw the Ice Kats score two quick goals that tied up the game in which the Aces looked like they might run away with. The teams seemed like they were going to skate to a tie and despite a couple of good chances to go ahead including a tip by Briar Slattery on a Kiera Dietz point shot the Aces looked like they had squandered a valuable point. Que the Cubby factor.
Two nights previous a rain delay changed the fate of the World Series. In this game the Ice Kats called a time out with an offensive zone faceoff and 15 seconds on the clock. Taylor scrummed the draw and tied up her player nicely allowing Rayne Bowden to scoop up the puck and play it out of the Aces zone on the left boards to a waiting Wieringa. Wieringa was pressured by the Ice Kat defender and calmly crossed the puck to the right side where McGregor was streaking. The left defender and McGregor met with the puck deflecting up off McGregor's body to her skates and she kicked it to her stick not breaking stride to go in all alone and dangle around the goale and tuck the puck in with just four seconds left to play.
The Aces received a nice bounce on the play to make up for a few that just weren't going there way earlier. It made a winner of Kennedy Caldwell in goal who stopped 15 shots in the win. After the game the gals were feeling good with the result and even better with some birthday cake as they celebrated Pens B-Day together and another win. The Aces have some good vibes going and look to keep them going when they face the Anaheim Lady Ducks on Saturday.