The CTC Atom Kinucks faced off against a pair of Highway 21
rivals this past week and came out on the winning end of both games.
After a Sat afternoon tilt in Hensall against the BCH IceDogs which resulted in a lacklustre 1-1 tie, in which the only Kinuck to beat the BCH goalie was Jordan Moulton on a pass from Darcy Scott, the mid-week series began.
First off in the HWY 21 battles was a road trip to Goderich to face the Sailors in a rare Monday night game. Things started off well for the Kinucks when Jordan Beisel picked up the puck at his own blue-line, deked out all five Goderich skaters as well as the goalie to spot the visitors a 1-0 lead with just a minute and 20 seconds gone. Five minutes later, Jordan Moulton took a nice feed from Mitch Pyke and went shelf to put the CTC boys up 2-0. Just 30 seconds later, Carson Fletcher buried a Darcy Scott rebound to finish the first period with the Kinucks up 3-0.
The Kincardine team took their foot off the gas at this point, played some undisciplined individual hockey and allowed Goderich to score two unanswered goals to make this one close. Only a few timely saves by Ryan Tanner, one with a mere 4 seconds remaining, secured the 3-2 victory.
The second game of the series saw the Saugeen Shores storm make the trek to the Davidson Centre in what promised to be a real battle after the Storm dumped the Kinucks 7-5 during the “Hockey Day in Kincardine” exhibition tilt a couple of weeks ago. The Kincardine coaching staff exhorted the boys to put forth a better effort than the two previous matches and reminded them in no uncertain terms what is expected of them to be successful.
The pre-game instructions paid off as the Kinucks skated to a convincing 5-3 victory. Both teams started out playing a fast back and forth evenly matched game, with the CTC team breaking the ice at the seven minute mark. Nolan MacKinnon took a nice feed from Nate Andrews and Mac Beisel and slid one home on the stick side. Saugeen responded with some serious pressure and were rewarded with a high wrister over the shoulder of Kincardine goalie Gordie Reaume to tie things up at one. Jordan Moulton was having none of that and off the ensuing face-off, put forth a great individual effort and went shelf to restore the Kincardine lead.
The second frame was highlighted by intense battles for the puck from both teams with the Kincardine guys continually coming out on top due to heeding the coaches’ advice and playing with strong will and determination. With just under a minute remaining in the period, Wilson Shipp made a great individual rush only to be stopped by the Storm goalie. Jordan Beisel followed up the rush well and playing ‘Johnny on the spot” was able to bang home the rebound to give the local squad a 3-1 lead heading into the third.
Saugeen Shores started the third strongly, trying to cut into the two-goal deficit and their pressure paid off when Kincardine was forced to take a penalty in their own end. It didn’t take the Storm long to capitalize as they scored just four seconds into the power play off a face-off win in the Kinucks end. With six minutes remaining, the desperate Saugeen Shores player fired one at goalie Gordie which somehow snuck through the five-hole to tie the game at threes. Once again, Jordan Moulton seemed to take this personally as a mere 30 seconds later, he picked up the puck at his own blue-line, manoeuvred his way into the Saugeen slot and buried the go ahead un-assisted tally. With two and a half minutes remaining, the Kinucks sealed the deal when Jordan Beisel took a sweet pass from Carson Fletcher and deked the Storm keeper to bury the insurance goal. Along with this goal, and his all around strong effort, Jordan Beisel was awarded the hardest worker hard hat.
Next up for the CTC Atoms is the Bill Batten Memorial Tournament in South Huron on the weekend of Nov. 9/10 where the Kinucks plan to build off the strong work ethic put forth on Wednesday evening.