HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-02-14, Page 8SportsPAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008.
Friday night saw Brussels Novices
face off against Wingham on home
ice.
Brussels came out strong to earn
the first goal of the night. This was
accomplished by Logan Kellington,
assisted by Dean Scarrow and
Bennett Newell.
Wyatt Machan tipped in an
unassisted goal before Wingham
came back and scored cutting the
Brussels lead to one.
The second period saw lots of
shots from both teams, and Brussels
was able to knock two more in.
These were earned by Kellington
and Machan, assisted by Delayna
Smith, Jamie Perrault and Connor
Bridge.
Brussels added one more in the
third, by Machan, assisted by Daniel
Fritz.
Brussels got 15 shots on net and
Derrick Waechter had 23 saves but
Wingham came out on top with the
7-4 victory.
Saturday morning the team
challenged Mildmay at the Blyth
Novice tournament.
With just three minutes left in the
second, Kellington was able to get
one past the Mildmay goalie,
assisted by Machan and Waechter. In
the third period Mildmay shot in
two, so Brussels pulled Waechter
giving Kellington a stronger
opportunity to net one and end the
game in a tie.
In sudden death overtime
Waechter was pulled halfway
through to give Brussels one more
forward, but Mildmay got past the
Brussels line to put the winning goal
in the empty net.
In the second game Brussels faced
off against Milverton. Kellington
was all fired up to win and he netted
five of the six goals. Machan netted
number six.
Assists went out to Smith,
Perrault, Fritz, and Bridge.
With the strong defence of Bennett
Newell, Cody Harding, Dylan
McNeil and Dean Scarrow,
Waechter made 13 saves and earned
his first career shutout.
Brussels will play for the “C”
division title once Sunday’s games
can be rescheduled. Brussels is also
waiting to learn of their playdown
schedule.
An eager team from Ripley
showed up in Blyth recently to get
revenge for an earlier defeat.
Blyth’s Junior Tykes had gained a
lot of confidence from their previous
meeting and felt confident hitting
the ice. They were excited to show
fans just how much of a powerhouse
they could be on home ice.
Blyth players sped down the ice
and fired several shots on a surprised
Ripley goalie in the opening
minutes.
“I am so pleased at the
improvement in our play and the
sportsmanship displayed by all of
our players,” said coach Rob
Gordon.
Flying high after back-to-back
victories, the squad was confident was
going into a game against new rivals
from Milverton.
This team had many older and
bigger players, but the locals weren’t
intimidated and held them at bay for
the first half of the game. The period
ended 0-0.
The stronger team eventually wore
the hosts down, however. They took
advantage of the tired players and
potted three quick goals. Milverton
took advantage of this shift in
momentum and sent out another strong
line. This line sent another two past an
exhausted goalie to take a 5-0 lead.
The last two goals seemed to inspire
Blyth, however team grabbed a second
wind, fighting back to score two goals.
Milverton had other ideas however,
and took advantage of a turnover and
deposited their final goal into our net.
“The team did not quit or take a slow
stride the entire game. We were just
outplayed by an older and bigger
team,” said Gordon.
Brussels faces off in tourney
Eager Junior Tyke team
takes on Ripley at home
The Blyth Atom girls started the
playoff qualification for the
provincial championship
tournament on a very snowy
Wednesday night last week.
The team plays round robin games
against Stratford, Milverton and
Seaforth. There are six teams in the
Huron Perth zone with the top three
teams advancing to the next round
against Grey Bruce teams.
Despite the very heavy snow on
Feb. 6, Stratford made the trip to
Blyth. The home side had a
somewhat tentative start and did not
force the play in the early stages.
Stratford got on the board in the first
period and took that lead into the
third period.
The Blyth girls were able to apply
pressure throughout the third period,
but were still unable to score in the
first nine minutes of the period.
Then with a minute to go Autumn
Wightman passed the puck to Ashley
Higgins in the neutral zone and she
was able to break down the side and
got a powerful shot away. The
Stratford goalie got her pad on it, but
the shot deflected into the top of the
goal for the equalizer with 54.4
seconds on the clock.
The home side had chances to win
the game in the dying seconds, but
had to settle for a tie.
The first round of the playoffs
concluded this week with games in
Milverton on Monday and in Blyth
versus Seaforth on Wednesday.
The month started off with games
against Goderich and Mildmay, who
are first and second respectively in
the league. These games were
played with the regular goalie
Lindsay Shiell away on holidays.
Amy Boyce filled in and did a
fantastic job against these top teams.
The team visited Goderich on Feb. 1
and fell behind early 3-0. Between
the first two periods, assistant coach
Steve Michie, was able to settle the
girls down and they responded with
two good periods outscoring the
Sailorettes 2 - 1, but stilling coming
up short for the game 4 - 2. Ashley
Higgins and Mackenzie Nesbitt
scored for Blyth with Leanne
Plunkett earning the lone assist.
The next day Mildmay came to
Blyth and the team played a very
solid game. Higgins scored a goal
assisted by Wightman, in the final
minute of the first period.
That score would hold until late in
the second when Mildmay evened
the score. The Blyth girls continued
their solid play and had chances to
score in the third period, but it was
Mildmay that would score with three
minutes to play to seal the win.
The team traveled to Howick on
Feb. 9 and came home with a 6-0
victory. Teresa Atkinson opening
the scoring in the first minute of the
game and proved to be the game
winner. Rounding out the scoring
were Sydney Wightman with a
single and two goals each from
Higgins and Nesbitt. Assists in the
game went to Brooke Middegaal,
Plunkett, Boyce, Higgins and
A.Wightman.
Hard-fought
Despite their best efforts, neighbouring squad Brussels opened their 2008 Blyth Lions hockey
tournament with an overtime loss last Saturday. The Bulls took on Mildmay and despite
aggressive play that saw Brussels pull the goalie in the third period and overtime tie situations,
Mildmay took advantage, posting a 3-2 victory in the first game of the tournament. (Shawn Loughlin
photo)
Atom girls start
playoff qualifier
The Blyth Bantams opened their
WOAA final series against Drayton
on Feb. 2 in Blyth,
It was a high scoring affair
through two periods with several
lead changes during play.
The game was tied 4-4 heading
into the final period with Drayton
coming out strong and the Dogs
could not keep up.
Drayton netted four in the third to
take the game 8-4 for a one-game
lead in the best of five series.
Scoring for the Bulldogs were
Adam Cronin with a hattrrick and
Tyler Stevenson picking up the
other. Assists went to John Lecomte
with two, Tyler Black with two,
Matt Popp and Stevenson.
Bantams lose
to Drayton
Winter Sports
Pages
B l y t h B u l l d o g s A t o m — B a c k r o w , f r o m l e f t : L o r e t t a T h o m p s o n , T r e v o r R a y n a r d ,
A a r o n P o p p , T y l e r B l a c k , J o h n L e C o m t e , J e f f P l a e t z e r , M a t t h e w P o p p , F o u r t h r o w :
C o a c h e s K i r k S t e w a r t , C h a d H a g g i t t , C o l e S t e w a r t , K a r e n P e n n i n g t o n , D o r e e n
T h o m p s o n , L i n d a P l a e t z e r , D o u g W a l k e r , L a r r y P l a e t z e r . T h i r d r o w : C o d y D u c h a r m e ,
D a n a T e e d , J a m i e P l a e t z e r , K e l s e y S m i t h , M a t t h e w C l a r k e , E m m a B r o h m . S e c o n d
r o w : R y a n P a q u i n , A l i c i a M i d d e g a a l , C a r l y W h i t f i e l d , C o d y R i c h m o n d , K i r b y C o o k ,
C o d y K e d d y , C a l e b B r o w n . F r o n t r o w : A d a m C r o n i n , K e v i n P e n n i n g t o n , J o n a t h o n
A t k i n s o n , K a y l a B l a c k . A b s e n t : S t e v e n E l l i s .
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