Article submitted by Barry Culmer
Playing on 4 December against the TCDMHA Rebels, the Kincardine Tim-Br Mart Bantam rep boys racked up their 15th consecutive league win.
As a result they sit comfortably at the top of their WOAA Group standings. The game was fast and action packed, helping to keep supporters’ minds off the freezing cold in the Chatsworth arena. Early on TCDMHA took the game to Kincardine, taking the lead mid-way through the first period and unsettling Kincardine with some strong forechecking. With three regular forwards missing, captain Derrick Bernath stepped up to the plate with a hat trick, tying the game up in the first and then scoring a beautiful unassisted goal in the second to turn things in the Kinucks favour. From there the boys rolled on for a 4-2 lead at the end of the second before adding two more in the third for the 6-2 victory. As it has been all season in the league, penalty killing was a big feature of the boys’ game - nine killed in this one. Other goals went to Shane Vollmer, Austin Rees and Chase Ambeau with assists to Sam Wilson, Scott McFarlan and call-up Aidan Calcutt.
The Tim-Br Mart Kinucks had two other road trip league games in the previous week, against the Durham Huskies and the Walkerton Capitals. The first snowy night of the winter led to a cold start for Kincardine against Durham with just a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period, but the boys got into gear with some trademark fast attacking hockey in the remainder of the game, taking the win by 10 goals to 1. Another trademark was the feature of the Capitals game – Kinucks in the penalty box! This one was littered with penalties, 11 to Kincardine and 10 to Walkerton, with three players from each team in the penalty boxes at one point! Kincardine ran out 9-2 winners in this one. Brody Hayes led the scoring in these games with five goals, Jordan Bell four, Derrick Bernath three, Scott McFarlan two and singles to Marshall Smith, Shane Vollmer, Sam Culmer, Chase Ambeau and Sam Wilson. Assists were provided by Bernath, McFarlan, Smith, Hayes, Ambeau, Culmer, Payton Dunlop and Evan Brown.
Sandwiched between the Walkerton and Chatsworth games, the Kinucks found time for an exhibition game against the BCH Ice Dogs. Kincardine took the first two periods comfortably but allowed BCH to rally to 5-3 in the third before firing in an empty netter for a 6-3 victory. Bell, Wilson, Rees, McFarlan, Bernath and Geordie Farrell scored the goals, with assists to Smith, Farrell, Bernath, Culmer, Wilson and Bell.