Nov 17, 2019 | jdisher | 425 views
Lack of Discipline Sinks Tigers
It was a disappointing end to a fantastic weekend of hockey at the Boston Pizza Cup for the Welland 91.7 Giant FM/Country 89 Tigers.
Owen Sound capitalized on all four powerplays that they were given enroute to a 5-2 victory and a berth in Sunday's Championship game versus the host St. Thomas Stars.
The Attack's Cooper Charyna would record his first of four goals on the day to open the scoring with a minute-and-a-half left to play in the opening period while on the man advantage. His second of the game, also a powerplay marker, came about three-and-a-half minutes into the second.
Julian Belcastro would get one back for the Tigers with 2:25 left to play in the second from Carson McComber and Mason Risto but Tyler Thompson would restore the two goal advantage just over one minute into the third. Even though the Tigers had not played well defensively or offensively up to that point and were being completely dominated, they appeared to catch a lucky break when Colby Franchetti would score from Tanner Cutler and McComber on a controversial goal with seven minutes remaining to keep things close against last year's OMHA Champions. While there was no doubt that the puck fully crossed the goal line there was some question as to whether it did so before the official had blown his whistle for losing sight of the puck. After both officials conferred on the matter, the referee with the better vantage point pointed to centre ice and the goal was allowed to stand.
Unfortunately this is when penalty trouble, which has been an issue the entire weekend, would finally catch up with them in full. Charyna would score with three minutes to go and again with just over a minute remaining to put the game out of reach and dash any hopes of a Tigers comeback.
One of the bright spots today and this entire weekend has been the continued improvement of newcomer Miller Miotto, who was recognized by the team as the coach's player of the game for his willingness to follow team concepts.
While Welland learned that they have the ability to skate, compete with and shut down some of the top teams in Ontario this weekend they also discovered that when they return to old habits the outcome is not what they desire. Hopefully they will build on their successes and confidence gained this weekend and learn from their mistakes when they return to league action on Wednesday night at home against the Dunnville AE Mudcats at 7:20pm.