Sunday of Family Day Weekend the Novice AA Under Armour
Petes travelled east down the 401 to Kingston to play their 4th full
ice game of the season. The Petes knew they would be in tough for this matchup,
as they had glanced at the stats and Kingston was right up there with them…but
if the Petes could win this game, they could take over the top spot in their
division.
Xuereb got the call to start, and with the help of his goaltending partner Davies, he was ready to protect the pipes. The atmosphere was electric – shouts of Go Kingston Go, were quickly followed and drowned out by chants of Go Petes Go. The fans were clearly ready, however the players needed more than cheering to get them going. They had a sluggish start, and trouble finding their legs after such a long drive. Kingston got an early jump on the Petes by scoring 2 unanswered goals in the first.
The coaches needed to light a fire under these players to get them going in the second; and what a fire they lit. The players began to show why they are such a dominant force in the Lakeshore League. In the span of 50 seconds, Casselman took control of the puck and scored 2 goals; the first assisted by Reil and the second unass
isted. The bench erupted as the players got more engaged in the game.
Kingston and Peterborough were all tied up going into the third. 30 second in though, Buchner drove the net and buried the rebound off Fuller’s shot, to put the Petes ahead by one. This didn’t last though; less than a minute later, Kingston buried one of their own. The play continued back and forth, with fans on the edge of their seats. With just over 7 minutes to go in the game, Vincent was streaking down the centre of the ice and was hit by a perfect pass from Casselman. He ripped it through Kingston’s goaltender to take the lead. And Peterborough held on despite taking a late penalty and Kingston pulling their goalie.
It took a team effort to pull this one off, so no healthy scratches this game. 2 players did sit out for 2 minutes each though; Fox and McIntyre were both called for penalties.
The 2-hour commute was definitely worth it for these young players to walk out of Kingston’s barn with a victory.
The Petes are back in action against their moms and sisters on Monday at the Evinrude.
1, 2, 3…..Petes!