After a week of practice, The Canadian Tire Atom Boys team
shook off their exhibition loss last weekend and hosted the Listowel Cyclones
on Saturday afternoon in Tiverton. The two teams are set to meet next weekend
in the Tillsonburg tournament and both teams played as if they wanted to set an
example.
Kincardine came out flying which seemed to rattle the previously unbeaten Cyclone squad who then decided to resort to football tactics to try and slow down the Kinucks. In the first period alone the Listowel squad completed 2 or 3 perfect tackles that seemed to slip by the refs’ attention. When the Listowel squad reverted back to playing hockey, they launched a few attacks in the first period and were able to break the ice with a rebound tally 4 minutes in. Just two minutes later, goalie Gordie Reaume flashed some leather to keep the game close. The Listowel aggression resulted in a Kincardine Power Play just 30 seconds into the second frame and the home squad was able to capitalize with Nolan MacKinnon picking up the puck behind the net and performing a perfect wrap around marker, assisted by Jordan Moulton. The Cyclones seemed to take this personally and responded to re-take the lead just 20 seconds later on another rebound goal. The second period battles continued with both teams taking minor penalties and Kincardine getting a nine second 2 man power play which they failed to take advantage of. At the eight and a half minute mark of the second, Mac Beisel was sent off for tripping which actually played right into Kincardine’s hands when Carson Fletcher sent a blue line to blue line pass to Jordan Moulton who went top shelf for the shortie to tie the game at a deuce. A minute later, Nolan MacKinnon turned on the jets and made a great rush, sucked in both Listowel defenders and slid the puck to Nathan Andrews who got the shot off and banged in his own rebound to give Kincardine the 3-2 lead.
The stage was now set for a wild third period with Listowel pushing for the equalizer and the CTC Kinucks fighting for the insurance goal. The Kincardine defence of Mitch Pyke, Darcy Scott, Ben Voskamp and Mac Beisel buckled down and with Gordie making some timely in-close saves, they were able to thwart the Listowel attack. This seemed to once again irritate the Cyclone squad who subsequently took a four minute minor where the Kinucks dominated play but were unable to score. Just as the penalty expired, with six and a half minutes remaining, Jordan Moulton picked off an errant pass at the Listowel blue-line, took a couple of strides and put the puck where they store the peanut butter to give the home town squad a bit of breathing room. From that point forward, the Kinucks executed the coaches’ two goal lead plan to perfection, hold your ground, keep the puck in deep, support your defence and get the puck out of your own end quickly. This strategy allowed the Kinucks to skate away with the 4-2 victory. With two more practices before next weeks’ tourney, the Kinucks should be in top form heading into the weekend.