No doubt that the Blue Bomber fans out there are starving
for an update. Lots has happened since our the last post. All I can say is these
kids are playing incredible hockey right now.
To fill in the details, the team finished the regular season
with a close 2-1 loss to ENS Black. Despite this loss, their overall record
left them in the upper tier of the league. A trip up to Port Stanley for a weekend
tournament brought the group together. While they didn’t win it, without a
doubt they battled hard and had more fun than anyone else. A long layoff
between games on Saturday meant an epic trip to “The Factory” in London, a
broken toe, tired legs and then the team rallying to dominate a last game
showing that this team is a special group that plays for each other and their fans.
OHHHH YEAAAAAH! (in the Kool Aid mascot voice-it’s a long story).
Returning home to playoffs, these Bombers played a fantastic game, but came up short with a 5-2 loss against a very good ENS-Gold team. Short memories are an important part of this team. After a spirited, high tempo practice with coaches Kris and Jim chasing the players through drills on Friday they were back at it on Saturday against a very good Amherstburg team who beat them earlier this season.
The Bombers had a rock solid Jackson between the pipes for the game and despite an early goal, he was a fortress back there keeping the Bombers in the game until late in the second period…and that is when it all changed. After some strong work by Nathan and Thomas to work the puck to the net, Matthew pounced on a puck in the crease, like he had done it 100 times, and banged it home. It was his first career goal and the team went haywire. Immediately mobbed by his teammates and coaches this led to the Bombers immediately taking over the game. Nathan scored minutes later on a nice setup by Thomas. Four minutes later Blake dangled two players and lit the lamp to make it 3-1. A max effort shift by Nate and Jagger blew up play after play by the opposition. Key to that was Nate literally diving to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Owen and Maiya pushed in the offensive end, forechecking and causing major problems for Amherstburg trying to get the puck out of their end. Finally, after some incredible forechecking by the line of Logan and Blake, Jaxon walked off the half-boards, deked the goalie and put the game out of reach with 30 seconds left. Unreal. A key to this victory was the defensive pairing of Maya and Grayson. Maya was very sure handed keeping the puck in the offensive end, but also getting it out of trouble and up the boards. While the stat sheet didn’t show it, Grayson earned the player of the game. He put on a clinic distributing the puck to his teammates and slicing through the opposition on electrifying end to end rushes. He’s a real crowd-pleaser out there.
Goal 1: Matthew; Assist: Nathan
Goal 2: Nathan; Assist: Thomas
Goal 3: Blake
Goal 4: Jaxon; Assist: Blake and Logan
Golden Jersey: Grayson
Lunch Box: Logan