Kincardine Hair Connection Atom LL1 played against Mildmay on Saturday, 30Jan2010 after a two week span without a game. Would the team be well rested after the break and ready to play a great game or would the lay-off throw everyone’s timing off?
On Kincardine’s first shift, the puck ended up in Mildmay’s end off the opening face-off. Darian (#3) got the puck to the front of the net with Payton (#8) going in hard, but she couldn’t get a stick on it. During the second shift, it was Mildmay’s turn to put the pressure on. With the puck deep in Kincardine’s zone, Brendan (#10) cleared it out to centre, where Ryan (#16) picked it up for a break up the middle of the ice, but his long shot went wide. Kincardine was in contention until the half-way point of the period when it was as if someone pulled the plug. Mildmay took advantage and scored two goals to close out the period with a two goal lead.
The second period started off badly with Mildmay scoring during their first shift. Kincardine came back a minute later when Colton (#14) fought off two defenders at Kincardine’s blue-line to get the puck to Darian (#3) who blew by the remaining defenseman, finishing off the play with a shot that beat the goalie high to the glove side. Kincardine was now back in the game and played well again until the half-way mark when someone again pulled the plug out. Mildmay scored three more goals to come out of the second period with a 1-6 lead despite Tyler (#1) making several solid saves on point blank shots from the slot.
In the third period, Kincardine once again stepped up their level of effort. Cameron (#6) got the puck at centre ice and carried the puck across the blueline, beat two defenders and was finally stopped by the goalie with a nice butterfly save. Cameron then put his head down and hustled all the way back to his end to break up a Mildmay chance. Darian (#3) picked up the puck in his own end carrying it all the way down the ice but missed wide. Ryan (#16) dug the puck out from along the boards to get it over the blue-line. He then made a nice pass to Colton (#14) on the far wing to get the puck into the offensive zone. Isaac (#9) and Isaiah (#5) worked hard along the defensive boards to clear Kincardine’s zone. Michael (#13) aggressively pursued the puck at both ends of the ice. Martin (#2) made several good plays back-checking hard to breakup scoring chances. Matt (#12) and Ariel (#11) both played solidly in front of Kincardine’s net. Despite Kincardine’s good effort, Mildmay managed to score another two goals to win the game 1-8.