Another set of weekend games…another big weekend for the Spits as they extend their home stand a little longer.
First up on Saturday was the Brantford 99’ers for an afternoon matchup with one of the stronger Eastern Division teams. The first period of this game saw the Spits come out strong with a heavy forecheck and some great puck movement. At approx. the midpoint of the first, it was Nate Dowling picking up a fortunate bounce off of the end boards and depositing one home for the 1-0 lead. The Spits then became the victims of some questionable calls and found themselves spending some time on the penalty kill. And the 99’ers were able to cash in a pair of goals to hold a 2-1 lead heading to the 3rd.
In the 3rd the Spits got a powerplay of their own and were able to take advantage by scoring 2 goals on the 4 min PP. First off it was Nate hitting the score sheet again for his second of the game and a mere 30 seconds later it was his line mate Owen Findlay putting one home to take the lead. The Spits then shifted the forecheck to lock things up in the neutral zone and the Brantford team was unable to get the equalizer.
Final score 3-2 Spitfires.
Special mention to Phil DiMambro in net who had a great game and was called upon many times to keep the game from getting out of hand. Great rebound control and a few strong pad saves down low preserved the win. Up front Nic Graniero had a strong game and worked the boards hard, as did Ethan Olafson. Mateo Nepszy had his usual strong 2 way game and was effective in shutting down the opposition. On Defense the pair of Nolan Carvalho and Denzel Aguilar were strong in front of their own net and boxed out the 99’ers time and time again. A good win for the Spits and this one makes it 3 in a row!
On Sunday it was huge matchup as the Huron-Perth Lakers rolled into town with one of the best records in the Alliance. The Spits knew that they would be in tough as the Lakers had only dropped three games all year. But the Spits were ready for battle and it didn’t take long for the Lakers to figure out that this one was not going to be easy. The Spits launched an all-out offensive assault in the first as the teams traded chances.
It was a real tight game heading into the 2nd until Brendan Gouin was able to finish off some fantastic forechecking from Konnor Smith and give the Spits the 1 goal lead. However that was quickly erased as the Lakers tied things up in a hurry. Lots more back and forth action until Owen Findlay picked up a Konnor Smith chip and took off through the neutral zone, undressed both the defenseman and the goaltender and slid home a backhand to restore the lead to 1. Feeling left out of the fun, Gavin Grundner decided enough was enough and took off from his own zone, blew around a Laker D man and popped home a backhand goal to bring the lead up to 3-1.
From there the Spits put their newly designed defensive system into play and proceeded to completely shut down the Lakers offensive attack. Brody Gillis and Seth Martineau were strong as usual and refused to give up their own blue line with some real tight gap control. And Anton Tchernenko and Matteo Pare did an outstanding job of getting on the body and using active sticks to separate the Lakers from the puck. What an effort form the D! Up front Ethan Olafson and Matthew Mongeau were owning the walls and winning the one on one battles at the blue lines and Brendan Gouin was solid on the backcheck all night. In net Trevor Heslop looked like “Patty Roy” with a smooth glove hand and a little swagger to boot! Trevor was a rock all night and showed some great confidence, as he looked to avenge an earlier loss to the Lakers.
What a great weekend and that makes it 4 in a row!!! Outstanding job fellas! The Spits are now off until Friday when they will meet up with the Sun County Panthers.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO JOURNAL