BANTAM FURY SHOOT OUT THE STARS
The Jim Newton Electric Bantam Fury Rep team took to the floor at the LRC
on Monday June 8, for their 4th Zone 6 game against the Toronto Stars.
The week previous to this, the Fury easily handled the Stars in Scarborough,
winning the game by a lop-sided score of 10-1. Tonight would be different,
however, as the task would not be as easy.
The Stars showed up with a couple of extra bodies, and a goaltender who stood on his head, making life difficult for the Fury.
The game started out a bit tenative, as both teams seemed to want to hold
the ball, and wait for the other to make a mistake. Both goalies were not
tested that often in the 1st half of the period, but when the Fury took
the game's first penalty, the Stars took advantage of this, and scored
a power play goal at the 9:38 mark, to take an early 1-0 lead. But, just
a couple of minutes later, the Fury solved the Stars goalie and evened
the score at 1-1, as Riley Smith bulged the twine, with assists going to
Craig Shier and a mysterious #14 for the Fury, who must have been so fast,
even the refs did not get the correct number, as the Fury did not have
a #14 on their roster!
When the period ended, Coach Hlibchuk could be heard telling the troops
that they were doing too much standing around, and too much shooting right
at the goalie!
The second period started off much like most of the Bantam's games last year, where the boys allowed the opposition to pounce on a lost draw and just 28 seconds into the period, the Stars took the lead at 2-1. Finally realizing what the Coach had said to them between periods, the boys ramped it up a notch, and scored the next 3 goals, to take the lead 4-2. The goal scorers were the mysterious #14, which was assisted by Hayden Ryan, then Craig Shier finally scored after 3 clear cut breakaways, assisted by Riley Smith, and then Liam Newton absolutely blasted a shot from the high slot, that the goalie had no chance on, assisted by Colin Naylor. So, with the squad up by 2 goals, they kind of sat back a bit, and allowed the Stars some good quality scoring chances, but some steady goaltending by Mac Langford kept the Stars at bay, but with 4:01 left in the 2nd period, the Stars found the mark, making the game close again at 4-3. With time winding down, the Fury worked the ball around, and with just 4 seconds left to go in the period, the Fury again went ahead by 2 goals, as Colin Naylor netted the goal, with an assist going to Craig Shier, giving the Fury a 5-3 lead.
During the break, Coach Hlibchuk reminded the boys again about being sure
to keep their feet moving and moving the ball around the perimeter for
a good shot.
The 3rd period started out with both teams again not really sure what they
wanted to do, try and score or just move the ball around, but, at the 10:54
mark, Hayden Ryan widened the gap to 3 goals, with the assist going to
Liam Newton. There was not another goal scored until with just 3:30 remaining
in the game, Jacob Halsall sealed the victory, with a beautiful shot to
the top corner. This gave the Fury a 7-3 lead. The Stars would score the
last goal of the game with just :46 seconds left in the game, making the
final score 7-4 in favour of the Fury.
After the victory tonight, the Fury record in Zone 6 play is now 3 wins
and a loss. The schedule gets tougher from here on in, with the boys travelling
to Uxbridge on Wednesday, June 10, for a rematch with Uxbridge. In the
Fury's first game of the year at home against Uxbridge, the boys came away
with a 7-3 victory. The boys are then off to Kingston for the weekend,
where they will compete in the Kingston Invitational Tournament on Saturday
and Sunday, playing at least 4 games over the 2 days.
The next home game for the boys is on Tuesday June 16, 2009 vs their Highway
rivals, the Peterborough Lakers. Game time is 8:00pm at the Lindsay Recreation
Complex.
