The Bantam
Twisters faced yet another hot goaltender yesterday afternoon on home ice and
pulled out a come from behind 2-2 tie in a game that was spectacular on many
levels.
The Bantams
were seeking redemption after their tough loss in Meaford Friday night and
Coaches Bell and Peeling had them motivated to play fast and hard right from
puck drop. Coach Darryl Bell had his forwards in heat-seeking missile mode as
they applied wave after wave of pressure on the Collingwood defense and
goaltender. Heavy forechecking often hemmed Collingwood in their own end for
several minute stretches and the Bantams fired an astounding 42 shots on net.
However, the Collingwood goalie was up to the task and played an incredibly smooth butterfly to great effect essentially leaving the Bantams with very little net to shoot at. Shane Workman, a huge Bantam fan and veteran junior level goaltender in his own right, advised early in the game that to beat this Collingwood goalie the Bantams would need to put traffic in front of the net and get a “dirty” goal.
The Bantam’s goaltender D. Peeling played a strong game in the Twister’s end turning aside 26 shots and kept the game within reach providing an opportunity to regroup during the intermission. Coaches Bell and Peeling, keenly perceptive in their assessment of the game, immediately recognized what Mr. Workman had alluded to earlier and instructed their team to clog the slot, screen the goalie, and put low hard shots on net.
The Twisters came out on the fresh ice in the third period with a vengeance and three minutes into the frame C. Cassidy slid a smooth pass over to A. Cunningham who launched an absolute rocket of a shot through traffic and C. Bell pounced on the puck with lightning speed and stuffed it home before the Collingwood goalie knew what happened. Flawless execution on coach’s orders and the Bantams had narrowed the gap to 1!
The game proved to be incredibly tense as the Bantam Twisters ran into penalty trouble later in the third and, at one point, had three of their four starting D off the ice. Coach Peeling had to scramble and come up with an ingenious plan to cover for this deficit and not drop another goal which may have proved disastrous. A. Kellam moved back to defense and stepped into the role with authority and played a physical game continuously keeping the Collingwood forwards to the outside and not allowing any easy access to the slot.
Q. Agar used his speed to huge advantage throughout this period, killing off the penalties and C. Barber, J. Martin, and Y. Haroon worked hard and clogged the neutral zone making it difficult for Collingwood to penetrate the zone cleanly. Their hard work paid off as I. Jongkind and C. Bell connected for a breathtaking goal to tie the game!
In summary, this game had a little bit of everything, and there is no doubt spectators from both sides left with their blood pressure a little higher but satisfied knowing each of their teams earned well-deserved ties.