The regular season started off with a bang pitting the two Wasaga Beach Peewee teams against each other in the opening game of the season for both teams.
After four sessions of skills and drills, along with some exhibition hockey, the Wasaga Beach House League Peewee teams were set and in an intriguing twist of fate they were pitted against each other to start the campaign. It was apparent from the start that the #2 team had a distinct size advantage but in the end the game was a tight knit affair that had a little confusion thrown into the middle that added to the drama.
Throughout the first period both teams traded chances and both goalies made some fine saves with the #1 team goalie, Revan V., making a few highlight efforts that kept the game scoreless through the first period.
Finally, during the first few minutes of the 2nd period, team #2 got on the board with the assist going to #18 Morgan P. and the goal going to #14 Joey M. However, the #1 team responded and #5 Matthew M. skated down the wing and sniped a shot to the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1 and the score remained that way at the completion of the 2nd period.
Strong play was evident on both sides throughout the first two periods and a shout out should go to the defense of the #1 team who stood strong in front of their goalie with the help of some very good two way play by their forwards.
With just over 8 minutes remaining in the game things got a little interesting when a penalty was called on the #2 team for what ended up being a Mouth Guard Infraction. With the season being so young, the referees made a mistake and indicated to the time box that a 2 minute penalty along with a 10 minute misconduct was to be assessed. The #1 team took advantage of the power play and #6 Ben P. scored a goal 20 seconds into the power play only for it to be taken back. The reality was that the Mouth Guard Infraction carried a 10 minute misconduct penalty and no addition penalty so the teams should have been playing 5 on 5 while the perpetrator was sitting in the box. Once the referees realized their mistake upon the goal, they waived off the goal and corrected the error.
The rescinded goal seemed to deflate the #1 team and although they continued to fight they gave up a goal a couple minutes later to fall behind 2-1 and even though they had their chances in the last 5 minutes of the game they could not come up with the equalizer and therefore fell short in trying to open the season with a win.
Following the game the coaches recognized the effort put forth by the team and encouraged them to dig a little deeper and fight a little more when battling for puck and to reinforce the point they recognized #7 Spencer R. for his efforts on both sides of the ice and awarded him with player of the game honours.
GO STARS GO!
Congrats Spencer
