Kincardine Hair Connection Atom LL1 played Ripley at home on Tuesday, 16Feb2010. Based on their play against Mildmay in the previous two games, there were great expectations for Kincardine to come up with a solid effort against Ripley.
The first period started off well, with Kincardine and Ripley playing an exciting end to end game. Ripley got on the board after Darian (#3) took the puck down the ice and tried to put a wrap-around in. The puck went through the crease and Ripley turned the play the other way forcing Tyler (#1) to make a good save but no one was there to clear the rebound. Ripley was up 0-1 midway through the first. Ariel (#11) helped to keep the score at 0-1 when she took the puck away from a Ripley forward in the slot. Kincardine got a great chance when Isaac (#9) forced a turn-over in the Ripley end on a forecheck and Michael (#13) for a shot to the front of the net. The nicest play of the year happened next when Martin (#2) got the puck deep in the Kincardine end. He passed it up on the wing to Isaiah (#5) who gave it back to Martin just outside the blueline. Martin then passed it back up the wing to Isaiah for a breakaway. Isaiah cut into the middle of the ice and was stopped with a nice butterfly save. The period ended 0-1 for Ripley.
The beginning of the second continued from where the first finished. Kincardine and Ripley continued to exchange chances. Three minutes into the period, Ripley scored their second goal when the entire Kincardine squad watched the Ripley forward circle the net and come out front for the easy shot. Kincardine then picked it up again. Darian (#3) centered a puck that went right by Michael (#13) and Isaac (#9) in front of the net. Isaac got the puck behind the net and brought it out trying to shove it by the post. Ariel (#11) took a shot from the point that made it through to the net with Michael (#13) getting stopped on the rebound. Ripley then got a breakaway that Tyler (#1) stopped. Martin (#2) back checked all the way to the Kincardine goal to take away a good scoring chance. Brendan (#10) played a one-on-one in text book fashion forcing the forward wide to a bad shooting angle. Ripley finally broke through after Tyler (#1) made the initial save with the rebound being bounced off his stick into the net. The period ended with Ripley ahead 0-3 and Kincardine on the defensive.
In the third period, Kincardine stopped pursuing the puck defensively resulting in four more easy Ripley goals to end the game 0-7. There were a few highlights for Kincardine. Matt (#12) played a one-on-one perfectly, making a nice stick check to take the puck away. Brendan (#10) made a nice bank pass off the boards to Darian (#3). Michael (#13) cut the puck off behind the Ripley net and got a shot off toward the net and then back checked hard. Darian (#3) kept the puck in Ripley’s end with Martin (#2) retrieving it and passing it to Isaiah (#5) in the slot for a shot that went wide. Colton (#14) got a break down the wing and took a hard shot at the net with Darian (#3) following up hard for the rebound. Ryan (#16) worked hard in his own end to provide support to the defense. Payton (#8) did well cutting off passes up the boards. Kincardine’s play in this game was disappointing given how they played against Mildmay. The consistent effort displayed in those two games did not materialize against Ripley resulting in the lopsided Ripley win.