Playoff Report - A Tale of Two Sailors, News, Peewee LL2, Peewee, 2012-2013 (Port Stanley Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2012-2013 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Mar 05, 2013 | mdaer | 1581 views
Playoff Report - A Tale of Two Sailors
The Port Stanley Jr Sailors Peewee LL2 team entered into the LMLL Playoffs, having drawn a strong Ilderton Jets team from the Western Division.  The Jr Sailors we playing strong hockey entering into the playoff round, but a lack of consistency ended up costing the team the opportunity to advance to the championship round.  The series ended 3-1 in favour of an Ilderton team, despite the Jr Sailors controlling the play for several occasions in the series.  It truly was a 'Tale of Two Sailors' as the team seemed to be different from game-to-game, a fact that Ilderton capitalized on to win the series.

Feb 16th - Game #1
The series opened with the Jr Sailors dominating for the early part of the game, staking them to 1-0 (Meth from Ainsworth & Pasch) lead going into the 3rd period.  After Ilderton tied the game 1-1, Port Stanley came right back to retake the lead 2-1 (Brouwer from Ainsworth).  However, with less than 5mins remaining in the game, the Jr Sailors team stopped doing all of things that made them successful for the majority of the game.  Ilderton scored twice in a minute to take a 3-2 lead, before capping the game off with an empty-net goal for a 4-2 win.

Feb 17th - Game #2
The Jr Sailors erased the collapse of the final 5mins of Game #1 by coming out strong to start Game #2.  Port Stanley scored first (Ainsworth from Meth & Pasch), and built that lead to 2 (Spangenberg from Hepburn) in the 1st period.  They held the lead going into the 3rd period, and built it up to 3 (Pasch from Meth) before giving up a goal to Ilderton.  The Sailors added 1 more insurance goal (Hepburn from Daer & Spangenberg) to win the game 4-1, and tie the series 1-1.

Feb 18th - Game #3
The 3rd game of the series saw the Jr Sailors continue to dominate for the 1st period.  But, they were unable to convert several excellent scoring chances, before reverting back to the team that Ilderton was able to push around and score at will against.  Two goals by Ilderton in the 2nd period put the Jr Sailors back on their heals, and they weren't able to generate any scoring chances in the 3rd period either, on route to a disappointing 4-0 loss, and a 2-1 series deficit.

Feb 23rd - Game #4
Game #4 of the series took place in Ilderton, and the Jr Sailors team was determined to get back in the series and bring it back home for a game #5.  The team came out strong, and generated several excellent scoring opportunities, however, the Ilderton goalie looked unbeatable.  Both teams continued strong defensive play throughout most of the game, as no team was able to score until the final 5mins of the 3rd period.  With just under 5mins left, an Ilderton forecheck resulted in a wide open player getting 2 straight shots, putting the 2nd one past Jack Lorch to take a 1-0 lead.  The Jr Sailors, determined not to go out without a fight, stormed back with a couple of key chances that were turned aside by the Ilderton goalie.  Then, with only 5 seconds left on the clock, Jess Szusz fired a shot that went through the goalie and into the net to tie the game.  As the Port Stanley players, coaches, and fans celebrated the tying goal, the referees huddled together.  The refs came out of that huddle and declared that the goal was not allowed, as they claimed to have blown the whistle before the puck crossed the line.  This inexplicable decision by the referees meant that the Ilderton team finished with a 1-0 win, and a 3-1 victory in the series.  It was an extremely disappointing finish to the series, as the team worked very hard, and would have had an huge emotional boost had this obvious goal stood up.

The disappointment of the playoff loss is now in the rearview mirror, and the Jr Sailors look forward to the year-end Tillsonburg Tournament.  With a few exhibition games scheduled before the tournament games begin on March 22nd, the team will have a chance to get back to the consistency that lead to a very successful season to date.