Warriors v.s. Black Knights
Game 14 Recap
Team Player Star Collin VanDongen (Middle)
Game Grinder Star Jordan Dekoe (Left)
Smooth Moves Star Blake Silenzi (Right)
The Black Knights met the Warriors for the second time this season in what shaped up to be a very entertaining display between home town rivals. Michael Snyder stood tall between the irons and made the Warriors potent offence really work for the goals they did get. Several sweet glove hand grabs and great rebound control kept the Warriors chances to a minimum throughout the game. Our defence were on their game and the contributions of Connor Wright, Landon Gibbs, Grant Sinclair and Collin VanDongen held the high flying Welland #3 forwards in check for most of the game. Landon took care of his man in front of the net much better today and really hustled back when he got caught up ice. Connor and Grant used their size and strength to keep the front of the net clear and moved the puck quickly from the back while the speed of Eric and Collin kept the Warriors offence wide forcing them to try and make plays from the outside or behind the net. Collin was given The Team Player Star today for his efforts. Our forwards put in 3 periods of hard work as well. They had numerous chances in the opposition zone and this game could have easily gone either way. Spencer Main continues to lead with his hard work. Spence set up several good chances to score, had a few close calls of his own as well and covered for our defence on the rush. Kaden Falardeau also prefers to do his talking with his stick and continues to show the second and third effort that this Coach loves to see. Desmond Leavens bumped and bounced his way to another great game as he continues to be a force through the neutral zone and will generally come away with the puck if things get dicy in between the blue lines. Desmond and linemate Mackenzie Covey also forced the play in the offensive zone and these 2 pressured the warriors D into several turnovers. Mac continued her trend of more aggressive forechecking and its starting to pay off as the pressure she puts on our opponents is turning into chances for us. Jordan Dekoe has been watching Mac closely because she has started to mix it up more and more lately, so whatever talks happen in the girls dressing room between these 2 seem to be paying off. Jordan's shyness is fading and she has started coming out of scrums along the boards with the puck and makes sure the puck clears our zone on the breakout. Jordan took home the Game Grinder Star today. Trent Brogan has picked it up lately and is playing some heads up hockey...pun intended...finding team mates in the open and getting them the puck. Sam Desormiers is keeping the pins moving and made some nice feeds to breaking line mates today. Blake Silenzi streaked into the corners in the opposition zone and dug pucks free from the Warrior D and fed the slot just like the doctor ordered. Blake was awarded the Smooth Moves Star for his performance tonight. Dylan Elsie was back from vacation...a little jet lagged but he still managed to play a very solid game winning draws and creating scoring opportunities despite being tired. We played a very close game with the Warriors and except for a nice deke and finish from the Warriors Jacob Doherty with 30 some odd seconds left in the 3rd we would have played to a draw. We are improving lots of little things and that is starting to show when we play tough teams. Good job from everyone.