Mar 02, 2016 | Ryan Olmstead | 823 views
Sailors Lose Hard Fought Battle to Meteors
The McGee Motors Novice Reps received the short end of the stick at the end of the regular season when they were advised they had to face the mighty Mitchell Meteors in the first round of the playoffs.
However the kids held their heads high and put in a valiant effort but came up a little short losing three straight games. The first game played at the Maitland Recreation Centre was a close one with the visiting team scoring a late third period goal for a 4-1 win. The coaching staff reminded the players before the game it did not matter if they won or lost as long as they played their best each and every shift.
The coaches could not ask for much more as Owen was stellar in the pipes, the defence of Jacob, Cohen, Simon and Devlin played extremely aggressive and the forwards of Bronwyn, Sawyer, Kingston, Duncan, Cody, Dean, Dylan and Connor forechecked hard and drove the net when they could. Sawyer scored the lone goal for the Sailors which was his 100th point of the season.
The Hardest Working Helmet went to Duncan for his attention to detail and his ability to shut down the Meteors most offensive weapon.
Game 2 shifted to Mitchell where the Sailors came out flat and found themselves down 4-0 before the half way point of the first period. The coaching staff called a time out and spoke to the players about keeping things simple and playing as a team. At the end of the second the Sailors found out that when they play hard each and every shift and when they sacrifice for each other they are successful as a team. The score heading to the final frame was now 5-1 after Dean scored a beauty one timer from the front of the net after taking a pass from Sawyer.
However the third period was one to forget as the Sailors ran out of gas and the Meteors kept coming winning game two 10-1. The Hardest Working Helmet went to Dean not just for his goal but how he skated hard at both ends of the rink.
In the third game of the series the players were reminded to leave it all out on the ice and that the series wasn't over until "the fat lady sang." They all seemed to get a kick out of that saying as that's all they talked about throughout the game which translated into their play on the ice. The Meteors took a 2-0 lead into the second period, but Sawyer cut the lead to 2-1 after some hard work by Bronwyn and Kingston. This seemed to wake the Sailors up.
Sawyer scored his second and third of the game for a 3-2 Sailors lead, their first lead of the series. However late in the second period the Sailors found themselves in penalty trouble and were down 5-3 heading to the third. In the third the Meteors put their foot on the gas and scored two quick powerplay goals to go back up by one. The Sailors continued to battle and made each other proud for the effort they were putting in but the Meteors closed out the series with a 7-3 win. Hardest Working Helmet went to Sawyer for his hat trick and how he battled at both ends of the ice.
The McGee Motors Novice Reps know face off against BCH and Hanover in a round robin format. Come out and cheer on your Novice Sailors this Friday night at the Maitland Recreation Centre when they host the Ice Dogs from BCH. Game time is 5:45.