The Grand Valley Bantam Twisters played a superb game on all
levels Sunday afternoon on home ice. It was a closely matched game from a
statistics perspective with Honeywood firing 27 shots on net and Grand Valley
countering with 24. What proved to be the difference maker was the Bantam’s
collective team effort and D. Peeling’s outstanding goaltending.
Coach Darryl Bell commented, “we knew we were in tough
because we only had two full lines plus an injury and a suspension and
Honeywood is an elite level team – we needed a big team effort and that is
exactly what we got!”
Coach Jamie Peeling had to juggle his defensive corps again and was confident adding AP player A. Kellam into the mix against a hard-charging Honeywood team. It proved to be a strategic move because A. Kellam played another standout defensive game and his dominant play coupled with the speed of O. Thompson, the power of A. Cunningham, and the playmaking of C. Cassidy helped keep a 2-0 shutout intact for D. Peeling.
The first period was a freewheeling end-to-end free-for-all with both teams throwing caution to the wind, sending stretch passes up the seams with deadly accuracy, and changing on the fly with few whistle breaks. This spectacular period often saw the Twisters hemmed into their own end, but their solid positional play kept the bulk of the opportunities to the periphery.
The second period saw a slight momentum shift begin to unfold with the Twisters starting to take the edge from Honeywood in what was clearly boiling down to a tactical chess match punctuated by bouts of fierce physicality. Y. Haroon shook up the Honeywood goaltender early in the second with a high flying bomb launched from the top of the circle and Q. Agar added to the distress with a shot that literally shook the goalie with percussion as it rang off the post.
A. Cunningham followed up shortly after with another one of his trademark haymakers from the blueline that appeared to stun the whole Honeywood team as their goalie reeled in disbelief, and C. Bell straddled the blueline to miraculously save the play in what ultimately allowed the Twisters to bury their first goal of the game. C. Barber was the beneficiary of this game-changing straddle-play, netting a beautiful goal with I. Jongkind and C. Bell adding assists. To add insult to injury, Honeywood was further befuddled by Q. Agar and C. Barber ramming into each other at top speed in front the bleachers to an uproarious crowd who cheered in approval as the two tough forwards immediately hopped back up to rejoin the play, much to Honeywood’s astonishment.
Going into the intermission, it appeared Honeywood was already mentally beaten but as the third period began it quickly became evident that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Honeywood seemed to attack with a renewed vigour and began to gain the shot advantage, and never let up. Much to their chagrin, what they didn’t bargain for, was an equally rejuvenated D. Peeling who began to aggressively challenge the shooters and push the play from his crease turning away blast after blast, and this served to re-energize the Twisters who knew they had to support this superhuman effort.
The birthday boy Y. Haroon took a nice feed from I. Jongkind and rifled a knuckleball from 57.5’ out that appeared to mesmerize the already rattled Honeywood netminder and found the back of the net. What could be better for the birthday boy than sinking a third period insurance goal – the game appeared to be scripted better than a Nicholas Sparks Novel turned to movie!
The ending featured Honeywood applying reckless pressure from all angles, and C. Bell played ring-around-the-rosy, at one point circling the net twice, while holding the massive Honeywood centre to the outside as he brutally attempted to cut into the net.
The game ended with J. Martin making a last-ditch effort to break-up a Honeywood rush with success as the buzzer sounded and was quickly drowned out with deafening applause. There is no question the Grand Valley Bantam Twisters earned and deserved this win and, based on their past three games, there is also no question this is one of the more explosive and exciting teams to watch in the entire Georgian Bay Triangle.