The Kincardine Peewee LL1 Kinucks came out on the winning end of a 6 – 4 scoreline over their determined rivals from West Grey in a physical, back-and-forth affair on Sunday afternoon. Frigid temps inside the Normanby barn weren’t enough to cool down an enthusiastic offensive display, with goaltenders on both sides being called upon, early and often, to answer the bell with quality saves.
Kincardine opened by forcefully stating their case, quickly jumping out to a 2 – 0 lead on goals by Brody Hewitt and Keno Tiu. Quick breakouts with tape-to-tape passing kept the early balance of play deep in the West Grey zone. If not for some stellar work by the West Grey goaltender, the score at the end of the first could well have been more lopsided. Not about to be embarrassed on home ice, West Grey tightened up their play in the second and began clogging up passing lanes and establishing a breakout of their own. After the Kinucks had forged to a 3 – 0 lead on a strike by Josh Catelo, the home side scored in the dying seconds of the second to send both teams to the room with the score standing at 3 – 1 in favour of Kincardine.
West Grey struck early in the third to make it a one-goal game at 3 – 2. The remainder of the game was a tough, gritty battle between two evenly-matched teams. Each time Kincardine re-established their two-goal lead, West Grey would quickly respond to again cut the deficit to one. Kincardine’s second half offensive output came via the deft hands of Adesh Sandhu, who shone with a trio of goals in an eight-minute span of the third to seal the victory for the visiting Kinucks. Had it not been so bitterly cold in the old barn that afternoon, surely more toques would have littered the ice after Sandhu’s completion of the hat trick with 2:57 left to play. At the final horn, the Orange, Black and White stood clear by two, winning the game by a final score of 6 – 4.
A highly-entertaining, speed-filled encounter – although not scheduled to face each other again in the regular season, it surely sets the stage for a spirited return engagement when playoffs begin.
By Travis Fitzgerald