The Jack McVicar Professional Corporation
Minor Atom AE Petes hosted the Oakville Rangers for game #3 of the OMHA finals on
Saturday afternoon (March 18). The Petes
entered the game trailing 3-1 in points and hoped they could even things up
against the top ranked Rangers.
The Petes took the ice to see a packed house full of fans, including many red hatted OMHA champions from the recently victorious Minor Atom AA and Minor Bantam AE teams. The atmosphere was electric and the Petes didn’t disappoint when Tristan Lehmann opened the scoring 48 seconds into the game, with assists going to Olivia Mercer and Archer Stalteri.
The early goal seemed to put the Rangers on their heels and the Petes continued with relentless pressure. With less than 3 minutes gone in the opening frame, Stalteri managed to put the Petes up 2-0 after corralling a point shot from Rylan Scott and banging it home. Caeden Kent picked up the other assist on the play, as a result of a great pass to Scott at the blue line.
The Petes seemed to be rolling smoothly, keeping lots of pressure on the Rangers and coming close to opening up the lead a few times, then the flow of the game changed when the Petes were handed three consecutive penalties to end the first period and start the second. The Petes penalty kill was efficient, but the relief valve had been opened and the Rangers finally had some breathing room that allowed them to gain confidence and push back.
With five minutes gone in the second, the Rangers found the back of the net and the momentum clearly shifted in their favour. With the Petes struggling to get back in sync, the Rangers kept coming and managed to score two more goals and take the lead at the halfway mark of the second period.
The third period saw the Petes giving a valiant effort to even the score, but the Rangers were able to hold fast and eventually put the game out of reach when they scored with a minute left to go up 4-2 and put themselves within a point of winning the Championship.
Sunday’s game was a test of the Pete’s resiliency. The kid’s knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to go into Oakville and keep the series alive, but it was evident right from the off ice warmup that they weren’t going to give Oakville a free pass.
The Petes opened the game in the same fashion as they had Saturday, pushing play into Oakville’s zone right from the opening faceoff and letting the Rangers know they weren't going down without a fight.
With two minutes having ticked off the scoreboard, Archer Stalteri came through big when he managed to light the lamp on a goal assisted by Caeden Kent and Griff Coupland.
Unlike Saturday’s game, the Petes never gave the Rangers an opportunity to gain the momentum in this game. The Petes pressure was relentless in all areas of the ice, with hard forechecking, solid neutral zone play and tough play in the defensive zone.
Although the Petes couldn’t manage to find the back of the net for a second goal, the strong play of the team, especially Bradley Montgomery in net, allowed them to shutout the Rangers 1-0 and tighten up the series as they now trail 5-3 in a race to 6 points.
The Petes will bring the series back home for game 5 on Friday night (March 24) at 7:00 at the Evinrude Centre. We hope to see the stands packed as this team fights to extend the series.