Feb 23, 2015 | Ryan Olmstead | 608 views
Sailors Play Stars in Round 1
The McGee Motors Novice Reps faced off against the Seaforth Stars in their first round playoff matchup.
On February 20th the Sailors hosted the Stars in Game 1 and what a game it was. The Stars took a quick 2-0 lead before Mason banged in a rebound to make the score 2-1 at the end of the first period. Assists on Mason's goal went to Iain and Aiden.
The second period was more of the same, back and forth, as both teams had great chances but Keon and the Stars netminder stood tall stopping every shot that came their way. With help from the Sailors defence of Caleb, Ella, AJ and Jared the game remained 2-1 heading to the final period.
In the third period Sawyer took a nice pass from Kael in the slot and fired a quick shot low to tie the score at two. The second assist on the goal went to Devlin who worked hard along the boards and was able to get the puck to Kael.
Late in the third period, Keon made a great save that bounced to Kael who made a lead pass to Caleb, who turned on the jets and blew by the Stars defence and fired a high wrister over the glove of the Seaforth goalie giving the McGee Motors Novice Reps a 3-2 lead.
With only two minutes remaining the Stars tied the score at 3. The teams continued to battle and with one minute remaining Kael found himself on a breakaway. Just as Kael scored a beauty, the referee called a penalty on a Sailors player that caused the goal to be disallowed and the Sailors found themselves shorthanded.
The Sailors were able to kill off the penalty in regulation and overtime but only a few seconds after the penalty expired the Sailors were not able to get the puck out of their end and the Stars sniper scored his third goal of the game for a 4-3 overtime win.
The next day the McGee Motors Novice Reps traveled to Seaforth for Game 2 in hopes of avenging the heart breaking loss from Game 1. It was not meant to be as the Sailors were outplayed from start to finish and lost 4-2.
The Stars sniper again had three goals, as the Sailors were unable to control him. However there was some positives to the Sailors game, as Aiden picked up both goals as his hard work and driving to the net paid off, picking up rebounds and burying them past the Stars netminder. Assists on the two goals went to Iain and Logan.
The McGee Motors Novice Reps did not have time to think about the two losses as they traveled back to Seaforth on February 22 for Game 3. With their backs against the wall the Sailors came out flying. Scoring the opening goal was Logan after a goal mouth scramble, picking up the assist was Iain. This was the lone goal in the first period as the Sailors took a 1-0 lead into the second.
In the second, Iain scored two beauty goals, the first on a partial breakaway, that was set up by Mason. The second was another breakaway where he fired a wrister off the post and in with the lone assist going to Kael.
The Sailors forwards and defence were in the face of the Stars players everytime they touched the puck but late in the second a puck passed out from the corner hit a Sailors skate and snuck by Keon. The period ended 3-1 in favour of the visiting team.
All the Sailors players continued to skate hard, fore checked and back checked helping each other out and playing as a team. Iain continued his great game and scored two more breakaway goals, both high shots over the goalies outstretched glove, with assists going to Jared, Aiden, and Ella. The Stars scored a couple late goals, but the Sailors limited their opportunities with some great work from the defence, hard back checking by the forwards and timely saves by Keon. The game ended in favour of the visiting team 5-3.
Come on out and cheer on the Sailors at the Memorial Arena in Game 4 on Tuesday evening at 7:00. Go Sailors Go!!!