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East Kings Midget A : Game Reports
<- - MIDGET A TEAM <- - GAME REPORTS
Midget 'A' Winterhawks Advance to Provincials
The East Kings Winterhawks played a best of three series against the Sackville Flyers last weekend winning the series and advancing to the Midget 'A' Provincials being hosted in Kentville 19-21 March.
Game one was played at Acadia on Saturday in front of a good size home crowd. The Winterhawks took it to the Flyers from the opening face off, creating many good scoring chances but it was the Flyers who scored the only goal of the period with just under three minutes remaining.
In the second period the Winterhawks' Mike Sponagle made a shot pass to Ryan Murphy who tipped the puck over to Ethan Bent who then buried it into an open net. A couple of minutes later Travis Sanford stormed the net and though his shot was stopped, Ethan Bent drove to the net, recovering the loose puck and fed Ryan Murphy who potted his first of the game. East Kings headed into the dressing room up 2-1.
The coaching staff then warned the players of the history between the two teams and how Sackville reacts in the third when they're trailing. East Kings came flying out of the gate out-shooting the Flyers 16-7 and with under two minutes remaining Ethan Bent passed to Ryan Murphy who fed Morgan Steele a gift as he deposited it into another open net. A minute later Corey Chapman head manned the puck to Brandon Benjamin who then fed Ryan Murphy a lead pass. Ryan was then crosschecked from behind as he released the puck but still managed to bury the puck as East Kings defeated Sackville 4-1. The game got ugly as the referee handed out five 10-minute misconducts in the last minute and players had to be restrained after the game due to the shenanigans of the Flyers.
Game two was played Sunday in Sackville. The coaching staff did not look forward to the rematch, as it would take everything in their power to keep the players from retaliating to the undisciplined play of Sackville. Again the Winterhawks took the play to the Flyers, out-shooting them early but didn't score until the midway point of the first. While East Kings was killing a penalty the Flyers dumped the puck in on net and Ian Brown forwarded a pass to Mike Sponagle who spotted Ryan Murphy skating to open ice and fed him a pass. Ryan then skated around the Flyers net and slid in a wrap around. Ryan then scored an unassisted power play marker when he stole the puck from a Flyer player and rifled a shot top shelf. Sackville then responded with a goal to round out the scoring in the first.
Evan Wittenberg then scored a nice power play goal early in the second on a nice feed from Brandon Conrad and Jeff Lawrence. The Flyers then scored a couple of goals to round out the scoring in the second, as both teams were tied 3-3 heading into the third.
The third period was a round trip to the penalty box as nine penalties were dished out, for a total of 25 for the game. There was no scoring in the third and after a brief intermission the Winterhawks stormed the Flyers zone in Over Time and after about a minute created a face-off. The Winterhawks' Ethan Bent won the draw back to Mike Sponagle who made a great shot pass to Travis Sanford, as he was driving to the net, and redirected the puck past the Sackville goalie giving the Winterhawks a 4-3 win and the right to advance to the Provincials. What makes the win sweeter was the fact that no one outside the team gave the Winterhawks a chance of defeating either the West Hants Warriors or the Sackville Flyers. The underdog East Kings team did so in style, going undefeated and winning all three series, including the series with the Greenwood Bombers, two games to none and out-scoring their opponents 25-10.
Submitted by:
Paul Murphy, Coach
EKMHA Winterhawks Midget 'A'
Published by: East Kings Winterhawks Midget A
Last Updated: February 24, 2004
Contact: [email protected]