Lightning Flashed and the Zurich Thunder Appeared to Scare the Dogs, News, Atom LL, U11, 2008-2009 (Blyth Brussels Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2008-2009 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Jan 12, 2009 | Rob Gordon | 736 views
Lightning Flashed and the Zurich Thunder Appeared to Scare the Dogs
Usually dogs are scared of thunder.  But, in our home barn the Blyth Bulldogs did not fear the Zurich Thunder.  Game on.

The first period was uneventful for the most part.  Zurich made some noise and scored one goal.  We answered back with a nice goal from Owen, set up by Brett and Colton.  Jeremy was in net and a little nervous but ready.  His defence put up a nice umbrella and did not allow many quality scoring chances.  The first ended tied at 1.

A clap of thunder in the second and the dogs yelped as we went down by a goal.  Determination set in and we again answered back with a goal from Gavin. A nice breakaway that tied the game at 2.  With only 1 minute left we went up by a goal from Patrick - set up by Colton and Brett.  The second period saw our defence step up their play with many stellar plays from Jeff, Craig and Curtis.  Very impressive.  Jeremy was stellar in the second, allowing only 1 goal on the shots he faced.

The game was a hard fought affair that seemed to be a close battle.  However, I think I heard a collective growl from the players during our between period talk.  I wasn't sure but I think I heard the low rumblings of what I thought was thunder.  I was wrong.  It was the beginnings of a loud bark from the Blyth Bulldogs.

With only seconds gone in the third, Craig grabbed a loose puck in our end and rang a pass around the boards to Colton, Colton chipped the puck past their defence and found a speeding Gavin for a clear break.  Gavin went directly to the net, put a nifty move on the goalie and slid the puck on his backhand into a wide open net.  Not to be outdone the next line went out and punched in a goal of thier own.  This time a pass from Owen to Brett in the slot for a shot that was saved, only to be slammed home by Patrick.  Seconds later on their next shift I saw what I thought was a replay.  Craig grabbed the puck in our end and sent a pass to Colton, who chipped the puck past their defence to guess who.  Right -- Gavin grabbed the pass for a clear break.  He made the same move on the goalie and slid the puck on his backhand into an empty net.  The thunder weakly roared one last time as they scored.  But -- the growl was getting louder and louder.  With determination in his eyes Colton hit the ice minutes after the Zurich goal.  He planted himself firmly in front of their net and waited.  Cam gathered up the puck in the corner and sent a pass to Gavin for a shot.  The save was made but there was the wide eyed Colton -- it wasn't on his stick a split second before he sent a rocket to the back of the net for another Blyth goal.  Seconds later Gavin grabbed a loose puck and was gone again.  You could tell by the body language of the Zurich goalie that he was sick of seeing this player.  Again Gavin sent a shot past the goalie for another goal.  WOW -- I don't know but I think that was number 4 for Gavin. Yep. 4 goals. (I must remember to ask what he ate before the game tonight -- maybe the whole team could get some).  The action slowed slightly for the next few minutes only to be interrupted by another goal from Colton -- set up by a nifty pass from Cam.  With only 40 ticks remaining, Brett wanted in on the action too by grabbing a turnover and sending a quick shot past their tired goalie for our 11th goal of the game.  Unbelievable.

Jeremy would win decisively in this match.  He did not have a lot of work to do, but when we needed him he came through with the saves we needed, when we needed them. Jeff, Curtis and Craig played another strong game on defence.  Clearing loose pucks from our danger zone and keeping the puck deep in their end with a DOGGED determination.  Great effort on defence guys.

During the latter half of the game we moved some of our defence to forward, and forward to defence.  This experiment went well as they all did well, and some of the defence would like to do that again one day.

What an amazing performance -- Way to go guys.
Remember what the old coach says.
We skate with our knees -- BENT
We skate with our heads -- UP
That is MY PUCK
And most important of all   WE ARE HERE TO HAVE LOTS OF FUN !!!!
Coach Rob