Jan 18, 2015 | Steve | 850 views
Atom Kinucks advance through Play-offs
Saugeen Shores Storm 1 Kincardine Kinucks 3
Kincardine Kinucks 7 Saugeen Shores Storm 1
Having wrapped up top spot in the regular season, the Canadian Tire sponsored Kincardine Atom Kinucks would face the last placed Saugeen Shores Storm in the play-offs. Facing a team that you have beaten on every occassion may sound like an easy passage through the first round of the play-offs. However, that wouldn't prove to be the case as the Saugeen Shores Storm put in some spirited performances against their local rivals.
The first game of a best of three would take place at the Davison Centre. The Kinucks would be without their ever reliable defenceman, Nate Arnold, who had received a concussion in an exhibition game against the Mitchell Meteors. Unfortunately, Arnold is expected to be missing for an extended period of time.
Finding themselves trailing after an early Storm goal, the Kinucks would immediately strike back with a Noah Swann goal. Despite Swann facing a lot of attention from opposing #8 Zach Leaver it wouldn't be enough to prevent him from opening the Kincardine scoring.
The Kinucks would have to wait until the second period before they took the lead, largely due to some stellar goal keeping in the Storm net. Again, it would be Noah Swann who would try to break through, only to be tied up by the back checking Storm players. This resulted in Swann's winger, Cam Fletcher, latching onto the loose puck. As he skated in on the Storm goal, he'd deke right and left, before expertly dispatching the shot over the goalies blocker side.
Noah Swann would claim the Kinucks victory and make it 3-1. Swann directed a pass to Quinton Page, as he skated toward the Saugeen goal. With a brilliant moment of skill, Quinton Page would return a drop pass across the goal crease, allowing Swann to knock the puck into an empty net.
The following morning would see the Kinucks take their game to Southampton, looking to put this series to bed, nice and early. Again, the Storm would prove to be tough opponents, so credit to them for their efforts against a talented Kinucks team. The game would be tied at 1-1, at the end of the first period thanks to a Quinton Page goal, assisted by Cody McLelland, and a Storm penalty shot.
Somewhat understandably, prolific goal scorer Noah Swann, would again be the recipient of some close attention, as the Storm tried to stem Kincardine's offensive threat. As mentioned previously, despite a valiant effort from the Saugeen players, Kincardines offensive depth would prove to be just too much to handle. With a focus on Swann, Quinton Page would step up and notch a hat trick from the left wing. Swann himself would claim two, while Cody McLelland and Carson Fletcher picked up a goal a piece. A little bit of change would see defencemen Noah Page lead the way when it came to assists. But not wanting to be outdone, both Casey Beisel and Jared Houghton would also get themselves assists from the blue line. Wrapping up the assists would be Cam Fletcher and Alex Colley Aquino, who are fairly regular contributors to the 'assists' statistics.
An excellent effort overall from the Kinucks players. A couple of players that might not have received a mention, but certainly made just as much impact as their peers were; Sam MacTavish who was hard on the forecheck in both games, the always defensively solid Holden Stevenson, and the ever reliable goalie, Ryan Tanner.