Kincardine Hair Connection Atom LL1 First Playoff Game vs. Mildmay
Kincardine Hair Connection Atom LL1 played Mildmay at home on Saturday, 13Feb2010 for their first playoff game. The game started off strangely, when Mildmay forgot their team uniforms and took to the ice wearing LL1’s black sweaters. Seeing the “other” Kincardine team on the ice must have motivated Kincardine LL1, because although Mildmay finished the season well above Kincardine in the standings, LL1 gave them a good run.
In the first period, Kincardine and Mildmay traded chances early. Good hustle by all of Kincardine’s players in all areas of the ice and good defensive positioning prevented Mildmay from clear scoring chances until five minutes of play had elapsed. Kincardine then turned the puck over at their blueline with their forwards heading towards Mildmays’s end. The resulting 3 on 1 resulted in Mildmay’s first goal. Tyler (#1) then made a quick leg save on a shot in the slot to keep Kincardine in the game. Moments later, Darian (#3) stripped the puck from a Mildmay defender at Kincardine’s blueline after Ryan (#13) passed it up from the corner. Darian then beat the other defenseman at centre ice and took the puck in alone, deking the goalie to the stick side to tie up the game. As has been Kincardine’s habit all year, a let-up just as the period was winding down resulted in a Mildmay goal with 10 seconds left in the period after Tyler (#1) made the first stop from point blank with the rebound bouncing off the post to a wide open player.
As disheartening as that goal was, Kincardine came out strong in the second period and pressed for the equaliser. Three and a half minutes into the game, Darian (#3) passed the puck over to Isaac (#9). Isaac bounced the puck off a defender and Darian tracked it down, taking it down the wing and letting a long shot go that was stopped by the goalie. He followed up the shot, picking up the rebound and roofed it into the empty net to tie the game at 2. Three minutes later, Mildmay responded to once again take the lead. The second period ended 2-3.
Kincardine continued to play inspired hockey, getting chances to even the score in the first ten minutes of the third period. With five minutes to go, Kincardine once again started to watch the puck and Mildmay scored 3 goals in 4 four minutes to put the game out of reach. Other than those four minutes, Kincardine played an outstanding game. Tyler (#1) had an outstanding game, stopping 35 shots. The coaching staff is hoping that this effort sets the bar for the remainder of the playoffs.
