Jan 11, 2016 | Lori Spoltore | 1819 views
Bantam AE Splits Round Robin with Woolwich
The Bantam AE Huskies had an exciting week, ending their season with a huge win against Woolwich 3-1 which launched them into their OMHA play downs on the weekend versus the Wild. The Huskies took the energy of the win to play their first of two in a round robin out in Elmira. With an early disputable call leading to a suspension, Spencer Boshart left the game and his presence was surely missed. His brother Blake cheered on Krmpotic from the bench as back-up AP goalie. The Huskies were scoreless after the first period, and Matt Krmpotic was hot in the net making many big saves.
Woolwich is a very physical team, but Wes Howey held his own on a shift with two giant hits. Being a first year player in a league of maturing boys, Howey shows no fear. The same is true for Tyler Wagler, Logan Arnott and Marcus Scheid who throw their weight around and play an aggressive style. Jordan Hempey took a huge head check later in the second, causing a suspension for the Wild. With seconds on the clock at the end of the second, Jack Weiler had Charlie Slessor with him on a two-on-one. Coaches yelling to get a shot on net, Weiler gave Slessor a beautiful pass in front and Sless buried it with a second on the clock to take the 1-0 lead. Momentum was on the Huskies’ side.
Deep in the second, with only 1:23 left on the clock, the Wild persevered to tie up the game even though the line of Luke Aikman, Brandon Jantzi and Weiler dominated the play but couldn’t knock one in. The defensive play of Cam Lowry, Ryan Hillar, Hempey and Howey was excellent. Their communication skills are strong, and they worked hard to clear the Huskies’ end. The defence are missing the aggressive play of Joseph Heise out with an injury, and also Kyle Green. Chazen Snyder nearly scored on a beautiful rush but came up short. The Huskies were desperate, but finally Aikman took the puck end to end and was able to sneak one in to give the Huskies the lead with 41 seconds left. The Huskies crowd went wild.
In game two action back at home in Wilmot, the Huskies were scoreless after one. After many officiating calls with penalties to both teams, Logan Arnott tipped one home after a beautiful pass back to Howey at the point from Slessor. Howey fired it, and Arnott got some wood on it in front. The Wild did not back down and were able to tie it up, and take the lead after the Huskies had several in the box. The 5 on 3 situation did not help the Huskies. At the end of the second, the score was 3-1. Tremendous hustle from AP call-up Nathan Ward, Scheid and Weiler. Kai Janzen stayed ready on the bench to back up Krmpotic.
In the third, the Huskies came back with a nice goal from Jantzi (assist to Aikman). Then the Wild took a 4-2 lead after more penalty trouble. The officials took time to discuss the play with the teams causing delays to the game. With not much time on the clock, Lowry found the net from the point after a pass from Hillar, and now the Huskies were only a goal away from tieing it up. At this point, Krmpotic was pulled and Green, the extra attacker was added. The play was deep in the Wild end, but unfortunately the Wild were able to get it out and scored an empty-netter to make the final 5-3. The round robin ended in a split.
In continued round robin play, the Huskies will face Guelph, Hespler and Halton Hills.