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East Kings Midget A : Game Reports
<- - MIDGET A TEAM <- - GAME REPORTS
Midget 'A' Winterhawks Advance to Next Round
The East Kings Winterhawks have been on quite a roll of late, posting a solid 9 wins, 2 losses and a tie over the past twelve games, scoring 48 and allowing only 12 goals against while keeping the opposition off the scoreboard 4 times.
Their first game last weekend was game 2 of the Provincial Playdowns against the Greenwood Bombers in the march to the Midget 'A' Provincial Championships being hosted by the Kentville Canadians 19-21 March.
Despite East Kings winning the first game 4-1, it was the Bombers who got on the scoreboard early, scoring in the first 5 minutes to go up 1-0. Greenwood kept applying pressure by playing the body trying hard to wear down their opponents. This type of strategy was noted early in the season by the coaching staff and the Winterhawks were well prepared. Grinding it out late in the period the Winterhawks went on the power play and got a goal by Chris Moore to head into the second tied 1-1.
There was no scoring in the second despite East Kings out shooting the Bombers 13-3. The power play was again tested late in the second and when the teams took to the ice in the third the Winterhawks scored on the carry over penalty and never looked back scoring two more power play goals and winning the game 5-1, eliminating the Bombers from future Provincial play, while East Kings now prepare to play against the West Hants Warriors Feb 14th at Acadia, game time to be determined.
Playing another strong game between the pipes was Ian Brown, lowering his goals against average to 2.24 in 17 games. Leading the way for East Kings was Ryan Murphy with 4(2-2), Adam Brewster 3(1-2) and Morgan Steele with 2(1-1) while Chris Moore had a goal and single assists were awarded to Corey Chapman and Jeff Lawrence.
The Winterhawks then travelled to Liverpool to play their Midget AA team in a 3pm contest on Super Bowl Sunday. Despite playing with only 10 skaters, East Kings made a game of it from the opening face off, and while both teams had a few great scoring chances in the first, the period ended in a scoreless tied.
The second period started to take it's toll on the East Kings players as the game was fast pace and Liverpool took advantage of a face off misplay and a long shift to go up 2-0 late in the period. With East Kings working hard on their conditioning in practice, the 10-minute intermission was just what they needed to recharge their batteries. The Winterhawks came out flying and pressured relentlessly, limiting Liverpool's chances before Ryan Murphy, set up by Morgan Steele and Adam Brewster, capitalized on a break away and rifled the puck upstairs with two minutes to go to make for an exciting finish. With Evan Warner on the bench for an extra attacker the Winterhawks had a couple of good chances but ended up on the loosing end 2-1. Evan's performance helped to lower his goals against average to 1.53 over 15 games.
Congratulations to the East Kings Peewee AAA team who returned home last Sunday from the Spud tournament wearing the gold around their neck. Good luck to the Peewee 'A' team who lost an extremely close game in double overtime to Greenwood last weekend in their game 1 of the playdowns. Keep working those face offs.
The Midget 'A' team coaching staff and players would also like to say thank you to Nova Scotia Power for their generous support toward equipment purchases used in practices and games. This is their second year in a row contributing to the Midget 'A' program.
East Kings is now off to PEI to play in a 'AA' tournament this weekend and hope to have a respectful showing and to come back healthy for the series against West Hants next weekend. See you there.
Submitted by:
Paul Murphy, Coach
EKMHA Winterhawks Midget 'A'
Published by: East Kings Winterhawks Midget A
Last Updated: February 3, 2004
Contact: [email protected]