Dec 09, 2018 | mproulx | 235 views
Tigers Extend Win Streak To Five Games
The Welland Niagara Street Pharmacy/Gene's Skate Sharpening Tigers continue to rise in the Niagara District Atom Doherty standings, claiming a share of second place with the Glanbrook Rangers thanks to a renewed commitment to defensive hockey.
The Tigers, 8-1-1 in their past ten games, are seeing immediate dividends from their investment into a more defensive style of play. Their hard work in clearing the puck from the defensive zone and limiting their penalty minutes is leading to increased time of possession and greater scoring opportunities in the offensive zone. Welland currently leads the league in fewest goals allowed with 25 goals against in 16 regular season contests and has shut out teams six times during that span. While still in search of a more balanced offensive attack, they are able to score often enough to win games without much difficulty.
Case in point on Sunday afternoon the Tigers defeated the Niagara Falls Flyers 4-0 on the road to improve to 11-2-3 on the season. Jonah Bello, a natural defenseman playing on the wing in the absence of Townes Bestward, opened the scoring near the three minute mark of the first period and Tanner Cutler rounded out the offence with a natural hat-trick over the final twenty-seven minutes as the Tigers skated to their fifth straight win. Riley Caron came up big on two breakways to earn his fifth shutout of the 2018 campaign.
The defensive corps of Denton Helder, Ashlyn Armstrong, Jordan Wright, Lucas Nelson, Hudson Kipp, and normally Bello, continue to fly under the radar as the league's finest backend sextet. While they make frequent contributions to the team's offensive output through tape-to-tape breakout passes, their efforts often go unreported in the local media whose space constraints often limit them to only publishing the names of the actual goal scorers, but the Tigers would not have enjoyed the tremendous success they have had to date without their efforts
Welland looks to build on that success on Monday night when they host the Pelham Panthers at 6:50pm.