On Friday the 27th, the boys began the first of 3
consecutive games as they travelled to Oakwood to take on the Mariposa
Lightning.
The boys started out on fire with some great chances early and took an early 1-0 lead on a great shot by Mitchell who had been red hot the last few games.
This seemed to wake up the Lightning as they stormed back with two quick goals of their own just minutes later to take a 2-1 lead.
But our boys fought back with goals by Howell and Oke to regain the 1 goal lead heading into the 2nd.
The 2nd was back and forth with both teams exchanging several close scoring chances.
Parry made a sensational save on a breakaway midway through the period to keep the Wild lead at one. But late in the period the Lightning struck on a bad give away in front of our own net leading to a Lightning one timer that beat Parry to tie the game at 3.
The boys would redeem themselves with less than a minute left as Mitchell would add his second of the game with a beautiful wrist shot to once again take a 1 goal lead.
But with just seconds remaining in the period the Lightning got away on a breakaway where Parry made a great first save but the Lightning attacker was able to bang in the rebound to tie the game at 4 heading into the 3rd.
The last second goal re-energized the Lightning as they would add another early in the 3rd on a very unlucky bounce off two Wild defenders to find its way past Parry to give the Lightning back the lead 5-4.
A few minutes later the Lightning would strike again on a breakaway to pad their lead to 2.
But our boys did not give up as Howell would score on a hard wrist shot to narrow the gap to just one just minutes later.
The boys kept pressing hard with some great chances by Bugg, Giguere and Dewsbury and finally a big goal from Benge with just 1 minute remaining to tie the game at 6.
But then the unthinkable happened as the Lightning attacker carrying two Wild defencemen with them managed to break loose and put a shot into the top of the net with just 30 seconds left.
A heartbreaking result for such a remarkable effort. Underwood, Wilson, Dowswell and Yerema were solid defensively for the Wild making several good defensive plays late in the game to keep the Wild hopes alive.
Next games are against the Lindsay White on January 28th in Lindsay and then a home battle versus the Lindsay Teal on the 29th.