Feb 15, 2015 | Mike Pullen | 812 views
Playoffs Start with Loss and Redemption
February
12/13th - Goderich versus South Bruce and Ripley. The Sailors started their playoffs against
South Bruce, who ended their regular season record tied with second place
Mitchell for number of wins.
The boys were sluggish for the first two periods and were plagued with some bad luck and shutdown by the solid goaltending of the South Bruce goalie (who at least one Goderich fan thought had a striking resemblance to a young Steve Hewitt.) Ryan landed the first goal of the game, but South Bruce struck back and was ahead 3-1 by the end of the second period. The Sailors came alive for the third period and Alex and Ryan scored two nice goals to tie the game 3-3. Unfortunately, despite a 5-1 shots on net ratio in favour of the Sailors, a breakaway opportunity for South Bruce landed them the go ahead goal to make it 4-3 with 6 minutes left in the game. Goderich had multiple scoring chances and almost tied the game again, but an empty net goal with 14 seconds left sealed the deal for South Bruce. A few more minutes on the clock would have made the difference for Goderich, but it wasn’t in the cards and the loss served as a wake up call to the boys for their next game.
Sure enough, the second playoff game against Ripley had the Sailors firing on all cylinders and playing their game with determination, teamwork and rock solid defense and offense. Redemption from the previous night’s loss was in the air and the boys hammered away at the Wolves to end the game with a decisive 13-2 victory. The goals of the game were achieved through some nice set-ups, sniper shots and dekes and went to: Snowden (2); Alex (2); Ryan (4); James (1); Noah (2); and Justin (2). The teamwork and strong passing was evident in the number of assists on the game sheet: Ryan (3); James (4); Justin (1); Nathan (2); Alex (3); Braeden (3); Josh H. (1); Lucas (1); Nick (1); and Snowden (1). Nyden also made some spectacular saves throughout the game to keep the Wolves at bay. This is how to win games Sailors – let’s keep playing like this for the rest of the playoffs!