Kincardine Hair Connection Atom LL1 played at home against Tiverton on Wednesday, 23Dec2009 in an exciting end to end game, with both teams getting scoring chances that kept fans on the edge of their seats.
On the first shift, Kincardine came out flying with Michael (#13) carrying the puck into Tiverton’s end and then Ryan (#16) went after it and kept Tiverton deep in their own end. Isaac (#9) got the puck out of Kincardine’s end by banking it off the boards by the defense, giving Kincardine the opportunity to change on the fly. Brendan (#10) cleared the puck out of danger in the slot and Ariel (#30) made a big save on a two-on-one to keep Tiverton off the board. Kincardine then made another change on the fly as six minutes went by before the first whistle of the game. Late in the period, Colton (#14) took a shot at the net which was blocked. Payton (#8) followed up, took her time to get into a good shooting position and fired a low hard shot that was stopped by the Tiverton goalie. Darian (#3) had charged to the net and picked up the rebound and fired it over the goalie, but unfortunately put it right over the net. The period ended in a scoreless draw with Kincardine playing their best period of the year.
The second period continued where the first left off - more end to end nail biting action. Martin (#2) held the blueline, letting Darian (#3) take the puck into the corner and centre it, bouncing it off a defender and forcing the goalie to make the save with both Colton (#14) and Payton (#8) on the doorstep. At the other end of the ice, Isaac (#9) blocked a shot in front of an open net to keep the puck out and Cameron (#6) cleared the puck out of harms way. Kincardine was then assessed a penalty which was killed mostly in Tiverton’s end due to the tenacious forechecking of Darian (#3) and Colton (#14) and the solid blueline play of Martin (#2) and Matt (#12). Late in the period Ariel (#30) stopped a hard slapshot from the point and then made a save down low directing the rebound into the corner. The second period also ended up scoreless.
The action continued into the third period. Isaac (#9) showed determination in chasing a Tiverton forward down the boards and knocking the puck into the corner. He then blocked a shot by Tiverton’s big defenseman and got the puck out of the zone. Ariel (#30) made a save on a low hard drive with her glove hand. Tiverton finally broke the scoreless draw with 8 minutes remaining on a bad change of defense by the Kincardine coaching staff, resulting in a two-on-one that was finished with a slapshot into the top stick side corner from the face-off circle. Kincardine answered three minutes later when Payton (#8) put pressure on the Tiverton defender, steering him towards Darian (#3). Darian took away his space and he fired the puck up the middle of the ice where it was intercepted by Colton (#14), who buried it on the stick side low. The tie lasted another minute until Tiverton turned the puck over at centre ice and ended up with a breakaway that ended up in the Kincardine net. Kincardine didn’t quit and took the play to Tiverton trying to get the equaliser, including thirty seconds with their goalie pulled. Unfortunately, Christmas didn’t come early and the score ended 1-2 in Tiverton’s favour. This was, however, Kincardine’s best played game of the year to date. The coaching staff looks forward to continued improvement in the new year.