Wild Hand Lindsay White Their 1st Loss of the Season!! Move into Tie for 1st!! - February 2nd
On February 2nd the Wild were host to the number
1 ranked Lindsay Muskies White.
The Lindsay White squad came into the game with perfect
14-0-2 overall record including 3 wins against the Wild.
But our boys were up to the task.
The boys came out on fire with 3 quick goals in the first 3 minutes of the first. Underwood started the boys rolling just 2 minutes in while Howell would add 2 more before the period was even 3 minutes old.
Lindsay would get one back a minute later but the momentum was clearly in our boys favor as we controlled the play for most of the period.
In the second the relentless Wild attack continued as Howell would get loose on breakaway just one minute in to restore the 3 goal lead and complete the hat-trick with a shot through the 5-hole to make it 4-1!
The Wild would control the play deep in the Lindsay end most of the period, until the Lindsay White got a lucky break and managed to get one past Oke with just under a minute to play in the period to close the lead to just 4-2 despite badly outplaying the Lindsay squad.
Lindsay started to mount some strong pressure in the early part of the 3rd before Mitchell sprung loose on a great pass from Bugg and put one top shelf (where they keep the peanut butter!) to once again restore the 3 goal lead.
But the Lindsay squad still had some fight left in them as they would once again strike back with a rocket shot that beat Oke to once again close within 2.
The Lindsay squad would continue to mount pressure with several quality shots that were turned away by Oke as the nerves of the home crowd began to rise in fear of a Lindsay comeback.
But with just over a minute remaining the red hot scoring machine Mitchell would seal it with his second of the game on a great shot that handcuffed the Lindsay netminder to pad the lead to 6-3.
Lindsay would not give up however, scoring just seconds later on a unlucky bounce that found its way past Oke.
Lindsay would pull out all of the stops in the final minute, pulling their goalie to put on an extra attacker.
The ploy almost worked as they were twice able to break loose on breakaways. But Oke would have nothing to do with it making 2 spectacular glove saves in the final minute to seal the victory and hand the Lindsay White their first loss of the season.
This win was a total team effort.
Parry, Dewsbury and Bugg were feisty all night on the forecheck and each picked up assists on the night.
Dowswell, Wilson, Yerema and Underwood were fantastic at both ends of the rink effectively keeping the puck in the Lindsay end and blocking shots in our own end.
Haecker returned to action and was solid breaking up several Lindsay rushes.
Benge and Giguere had several scoring chances and created headaches for the Lindsay D all night long with their tenacious checking.
The win vaulted the Wild into a tie with the Lindsay White for 1st place in the 2nd Half standings with 10 points. The Lindsay White do however have two games in hand.
Next up was the Woodville Hurricanes on the February 5th in Cannington. Stay tuned!