The Service Master Restore Minor Peewee AE
Petes got off to a hot start in the Lakeshore semi-finals with a pair of wins
over North Durham and Northumberland.
The Petes opened the Lakeshore semi-finals on Saturday (March 2) against the North Durham Warriors. Coming off a hard fought quarterfinal series, the Petes seemed to bring that intensity into the game and were rewarded early when Josh Watson scored on his opening shift of the game, off an assist from Sam Dickey. The duo would continue their strong play on the next shift when they broke out into a two on one which saw Dickey bury the puck off a cross ice pass from Watson. While the Petes continued to pressure the Warriors and looked to add to their lead, the two early goals would be all they could muster. Adam McGinn made some pivotal saves and earned a shutout as the Petes took the game 2-0.
In the second game of the semi-finals, the Petes played host to the Northumberland Nighthawks on Tuesday night (March 5). This game had an entirely different start as the Nighthawks took advantage of a Petes turnover off the opening faceoff to quickly take the lead. The Petes would even things up before the first period expired, as James Chandra tipped home a pass from Will Mattie.
The second period saw the Petes continue to build momentum, including an early goal from Watson. However, after being pinned in their end for most of the period, the Nighthawks took advantage of a rare scoring opportunity and managed to tie things up headed to the third.
The third period saw an early goal from Jordan Garfat, followed by consistent and unending pressure on the Nighthawks goal. It looked like the Petes would have a great chance to put the game out of reach as they were awarded a power play at the midway point of the period, but disaster would strike when a Petes defenseman turned the puck over at the offensive blue line, resulting in a breakaway and shorthanded goal for the Nighthawks. Rather than fold up and give the Nighthawks some momentum, the reaction on the Petes bench was one of determination not to let the game slip away. It would take a couple of hard working shifts for the reward to come, but with 18 seconds left in the game, the Petes would pull ahead for good when Riley Hagerman scored the game winner and picked up his third point of the night.
The Petes will round out the semi-final series with a road trip to North Durham on Saturday (March 9) and Northumberland on Tuesday (March 12).
The Petes would also like to thank Pizza Hut for their sponsorship this season.