Game # 3

 

                The day was full of anticipation, as the top 2 teams in pool A were set to square off with what very well could also be the semi finals.  The Centurions stepped onto the floor after the first game had just finished an started a light jog around the net followed up by a sensational warm up, where goalie Gordon Templeton got a nice feel for the new ball, and everything looked to be going good. The ball dropped shortly after 12:35 much to the crowds delight. The centurions won the draw but you could already tell, they were jittery for this game as the play was very sloppy.  It was pretty much back and forth action, with no one really standing out as taking it to the other. Finally about 2:30 minutes into the first period, after an awkward bounce off a dump, team captain Andrew Hamel, dug the ball free from the boards and gave an absolutely amazing pass right to Eli Henry. The centurions were caught off guard as they thought they had all the lanes cut off, but he managed to thread the needle and put the ball on the stick of Eli, so that he had no choice but to put it in. After watching the pass over and over again, it becomes that much more special. 

    The Centurions now got down on themselves but defiantly not out. The team got their heads in the game and started to control play. Their passing was outstanding and they were firing all they had but they could not hit the net. After period 1, they only managed to get 1 shot on net, and it wasn't even a solid shot.

    Period 2 started just as the last one had ended, with total domination by the centurions. They had the ball for 3/4 of the time but they found themselves not being able to hit the net. That was because of the solid defense put forth by Danger Patrol, in particular, Marque Lavallee who must have gotten in the way of at least a dozen shots. Frustrations grew on the centurions bench as time ticked away. They had many chances at the end but when it came down to it, Danger Patrol, was just too much as they beat the Centurions 1-0.

    The team was visibly disappointed after their performance as they couldn't get the puck on net, but they held a meeting last night and picked out some real positives from the whole game, as they realized that it would have just been a 0-0 had andrew hamel not delivered a beauty pass.

TSN's Monster Performer

Brett McCormac

    This is the first time TSN has spotlighted Brett McCormac as their monster performer, but this one is well deserved. After falling behind 1-0, the team seemed to take an emotional dive, as you could tell they were frustrated. Brett McCormac on the other hand, kept a cool head throughout, taking a penalty in the 2nd but still being the best player on the floor for the centurions. McCormac came close several times to burying the biscuit but like the rest of the team could fully find it. McCormac was a -1 on the night but that doesn't give him justice because his solid defensive play, kept the team in it and kept it as a 1-0 game.

Coach Chankavich wanted to add an honorable mention to Devin MacAulay, who came up big with a save in the second half, keeping it a 1-0 game.

 

Coach Chankavich's Hits and Misses

Hits

Misses

Coach Chankavich's Keys for Next game

All good things must come to an end, as we saw our undefeated streak broken yesterday in a heartbreaking loss. But although it was a negative and shouldn't have happened, we must not look to the future and only take positives from what happened. We could dwell on the fact that we lost all week if we wanted to but we'd rather focus on our next challenge, the rookies. We've played them before and we know what style of play they have, and we know their weaknesses. Some may argue, that they are the favourites going into the playoffs as they just had come off a big, high scoring game against the dooshmonators and you guys just had a loss. That's true but from this loss, we see exactly where we went wrong and know we must correct it. Some would also say that for the second game in a row, you haven't managed to hit the net with your shots. That raises concern but this is a very skilled team and we believe that come next game that problem will be rectified. 

There's only so much you can say when in a state of shock and disbelief. Were we expecting to lose that game, no, no one goes in expecting to lose. Does it ruin our whole season, no, it just changes  the path we have to go down to get to our goal.

We lost the game, plain and simple, no excuses, but I'll leave you with this, nobody starts off at the top of the mountain, it takes a lot of climbing first.

Ryan Chankavich

Coach Chankavich

 

 

 

 

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