It was the battle of the Kincardine Atom Local League teams in Kincardine on 23Jan2009. LL2 came out determined not to let LL1 run them over.
The first period saw furious action as each team battled for every loose puck. LL2 provided smothering defence to keep LL1 from getting on the board. Virat (#4) and the Rocket (#2) shadowed LL1's Andrew (#1) to prevent him from having any great scoring chances in the first period. Hogan (#11) matched up against LL1's Owen (#13) and kept him off the board in the first period. This allowed the defence of Chris (#15), Alex (#8) and Brendan (#10) to stand up at their blue line and clear the loose pucks. Alex (#1) shut the door time and again from in close. Both Michael (#6) and Ryan (#16) did well clearing pucks out over their blueline when cleared up the boards. The period ended scoreless.
Early in the second period, LL1 got the puck deep in LL2's end. Owen (#13) got loose in front of the net. His first shot was handled by Alex (#1), but the rebound landed at Owen's feet and he made no mistake roofing it for LL1's first goal. Minutes later, LL1's Andrew (#1) took the puck to the net to score. The period ended 0-2 for LL1.
LL2 had no choice but to get more offensive. This resulted in more goal scoring chances in the third than the other two periods combined. Chris (#15) picked up the puck in his own end and rushed the puck from one end of the ice to the other, finishing the play with a shot stick side high that found the back of the net. With only two thirds of the period to go, things got interesting with a 1-2 score. With five minutes left in the game, LL1's Andrew (#1) once again broke through LL2's defense to score his second of the game to make the score 1-3. LL2 didn't quit and continued to press. Mackenzie (#30) dug the puck out of the offensive corner and made a perfect pass to Hogan (#11) in the high slot. Hogan's shot was turned away by Rahul (#30). With a minute left, LL2 took a penalty as they aggressively pursued the puck. LL1 took full advantage of the power play and Andrew (#1) scored his third goal for the natural hat-trick. The final score ended 1-4 for LL1.