Nov 21, 2009 | I Mango | 818 views
Miller Midgets Reach Bronze Finals
Game one of the Strathroy Olympic Midget tournament had the Miller midgets up against an unknown in Pelham. A fast paced hard hitting affair with few penalties had the Miller Midgets come out on the winning end of a 4 to 1 score with goals going to Mitch Dickson, Jacob Siekierski, Sam Gurbin and Chris Beattie, with helpers going to Mathew Osadca, Jory Norman, Dylan Sayle and Phil Bernath.
Game two against North London was a tight checking affair with both sides trading scoring chances only to have the net minders shut the door. It wasn’t until 10:27 of the third period that Josh MacDonald sent a slapper from the point past a screened goalie with the assist going to Josh Gauthier and Karsen Ellis. Keegan Woodman closed the door and made several circus catches to preserve the shutout.
The wakeup call on Saturday day morning had the boys facing a strong Huntsville team who had the Miller Midgets on the ropes from the opening faceoff. Undisciplined penalties and give aways gave the Huntsville snipers several opportunities to score. Easton Battler was strong in the net only to have the opposition find greasy rebounds to feast on time after time. In the end Huntsville skated off with the decisive 4-0 victory.
The afternoon affair against the home town Strathroy team saw the boys rejuvenated and energized. Strathroy opened the scoring in the second frame on a Power play goal, Mitch Dickson quickly replied with a nice tip in off a Dylan Sayle snapper, Sam Gurbin got the other helper as a result of a nice pinch in. Strathroy took the lead off another Power play opportunity when the winger found himself all alone at the side of the net and banged one in bar down. Kincardine answered quickly at the end of the second when Karsen Ellis dangled his way to the net and went 5 hole off a beauty feed from Phil Bernath and Brad Mangotich. Three on three overtime was needed and this one ended as a heart breaker as soft dribbler from the point was tipped at the last minute to find the back of the net.
Two wins and two losses plus enough goals scored were enough to get the boys to the bronze finals against Huntsville. Coach Catto and Stepaniak had the boys energized as the tempo of this game was defiantly different than the original meeting. It was all Kincardine as they swarmed the Huntsville Goalie and peppered shots from every angle to gain a 2-0 advantage going into the third. Goal scorers were Josh MacDonald and Karsen Ellis with helpers going to Dylan Sayle, Brad Mangotich, Mathew Osadca and Cody Bowes. The advantage was short lived as Huntsville came alive and came back in the third strong, to scoring 4 unanswered to take the lead. Late in the third Kincardine pulled Easton Battler who had been acrobatic keeping the score close only to have the Huntsville defenders fire a long bomb that curled just enough to find the back of the net, final score Huntsville 5 Kincardine 2, it was a long ride home. (Nov 20, 2009)
By Ron Sayle