Falcons Bring It for Saugeen Shores
Submitted By
Dan Bailey on Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Series one opened for the Schaus Masonry Hanover Atom Reps Thursday night, where they were host to the Saugeen Shores Storm BB team. After falling 7-2 to the Storm just a few days prior, the Falcons were faced against quite a steep hill.
With the Falcons' captain facing illness, the team found new leadership in Brenden Clayton, who through his incredible work ethic, earned the C for game 1.
Dressing room talks and eager players were determined that this game would be different than the weekends' match. The players promised to take it to the pad, and that they did.
Period one saw end to end action with both goaltenders seeing their fair share of rubber. Both stood strong. The Falcons applied pressure and game tactics that had most recently been non existent, and their efforts paid off, as period one finished scoreless.
With the bulk of the play in the Storm zone, period two saw the Falcons win battles, control the play, and cycle the puck very well. A confused Saugeen squad continued to draw straws, but failed to muster up anything successful.
Period two also ended scoreless.
Period three saw a determined Falcon's team hit the ice with everything they had, and after controlling the play on two powerplays, and throughout even strength play, Hanover broke up the Storm's breakout play, as Nathan Russwurm pinched in from the point, battled for the puck, and on a backhand shot, went top shelf, making it 1-0, Hanover.
An excited Hanover team, saw the lead for the first time in many recent games, and wanted to cling to it for dear life. With over seven minutes remaining, it would take more than the trap, or relaxed play to keep the Storm at bay.... As the Falcons enjoyed a powerplay, the team slipped into relaxed mode, and allowed the Storm to have ONE shot while shorthanded, but unfortunately, that's all it took, as goalie, Gregory Scales didn't see the entire shot as it hit the twine up high.
Facing a draw deep in the Falcon's zone, with just seconds to go, a lock up was in order, and the Falcons delivered - taking the game into sudden death OT.
As both teams had laid it all out on the line for three solid frames, the pace of the game dramatically dropped, and just 3 minutes into OT, the Storm had a chance to take a low risk shot, and then bat the rebound out of the air, ending the hopes of the Hanover Atoms.
An incredible match up, and a terrific turn of events for Hanover to bring their game. All are proud of the team. Fantastic play by all.
The Falcons travel to Southampton on Thursday night to show Saugeen Shores that we're not done with them just yet!
