Oct 22, 2011 | ldejager | 761 views
Bantam Reps Start Season Off Right
The Bantam Rep Sailors have two back to back wins under their belt to start their season off on the right foot. The team showed character and tenacity to come from behind to beat the Mount Forest Rams on October 13, and their offensive pressure aided in fending off the aggressive Mitchell Meteors on October 19.
In the Mount Forest game, the Sailors had a shaky start, as the Rams were on the attack and scored 3 unanswered goals by the end of the first period. The Sailors came to life in the second period, starting off with a goal by Steve De Jager, who banked a nice pass from Mykal Hodges off the goalie and in, 3-1 Rams. A minute and a half later, Eric MacPhee scored unassisted with a beautiful end to end rush that narrowed the gap 3-2. Sailor netminder Branden Bean made some key saves to keep the Mount Forest team at bay. Before the end of the second period, Hodges got the puck to Nick Souch, who scored a slapper from the point to tie it up 3-3. The third period saw MacPhee once again tuck it away, assisted by De Jager, putting the Sailors in the lead, 4-3. With 5 minutes left, Souch capitalized on a power play and scored unassisted, making it 5-3 Goderich. A fluke goal at 2:37 trickled past Bean, but the Sailors held on for an exciting 5-4 come-from-behind victory.
After being shut-out in an exhibition game against the Mitchell Meteors back in September, the Sailors were ready to come on strong and that's exactly what they did. They dominated the first period, as Tyler Johnston, Mykal Hodges, Chase Kulich, and Rylan Lamb teamed up to help Steve De Jager score the first three goals of the game. Mitchell was able to take advantage of a sloppy change by the Sailors and scored their first goal at 3:31 left in the first, 3-1 Sailors. Less than a minute later, after a frenetic and crowded battle at the Meteor net, De Jager popped in his fourth of the night, assisted by Johnston once again, and the Sailors were up 4-1.
The second period saw Goderich goalie Jordan Johnson making stellar saves as Mitchell revved up their game and became more aggressive. Tyler Johnston tipped in a nice shot by Ethan Lajeunesse at 13:28 of the second, widening the gap to 5-1 Sailors. A couple of minutes later De Jager was able to make a lovely pass up to Hodges who scored on the breakaway to make it 6-1. At 6:52, a Mitchell player poked away at goalie Jordan Johnson until the covered puck slid past him and in, making it 6-2. Mitchell scored two goals in succession right after this, making it 6-4, and the Goderich team had to regroup and refocus. The Sailors got a break as a shot from Hodges went off a Mitchell player and into their own net. The Sailors ended the second period up 7-4.
Our Goderich boys could taste this victory and wanted more than anything to clinch it. Shortly into the third period, defenseman Kyle Langlois made no mistake with a screamer from the point, 8-4 Goderich. A fluke Mitchell attempt that got tangled up in Johnson's feet ended up scoring at 11:29, making it 8-5. After many battles and subsequent penalties, Hodges scored his third of the night for the hat trick, on accurate passes from Tyler Dickson and Langlois, 9-5 Sailors. The Meteors capitalized on a weak defensive shift for the Sailors, and scored their final goal of the night, making the final score 9-6 Goderich. The Sailors worked hard for a well-deserved win! They begin a busy weekend with three consecutive games: 4:30 Saturday at the YMCA against the St. Mary's Rock, 8 pm in Seaforth versus the Seaforth Stars, and 7:30 Monday night in Walkerton against the Capitals.