Nov 29, 2019 | jdisher | 539 views
Tigers Triumphant In Tournament Opener
The Welland 91.7 Giant FM/Country 89 Tigers scored a major upset to open the Northumberland Silver Stick Regionals in Cobourg on Friday morning with a win, defeating the 2nd-ranked Orillia Terriers 4-1 in minor peewee A pool play.
Miller Miotto, making his first-ever appearance in a regional Silver Stick competition, made an excellent first impression by pacing Welland with two goals and Julian Belcastro and Tanner Cutler added single tallies to hand the Terriers only their fifth loss of the season.
The Tigers came out flying and Miotto would find paydirt assisted by Tanner Cutler with just under four minutes remaining in the first period to stake the visitors to the early lead.
Orillia's Aiden Lewis would reply almost halfway through the second period and the game would be remain tied through the initial twenty minutes of play.
Miotto would record his second of the game, on the powerplay at 13:44 of the third period on helpers from Colby Franchetti and Hudson Kipp, as the Tigers would regain a lead that they would not relinquish.
Julian Belcastro would score an absolutely beautiful goal from Denton Helder and Carson McComber nearly two minutes later and Tanner Cutler would add an empty-net goal with twenty-eight seconds remaining to close out the victory but it certainly did not lack for excitement in the game's closing minutes.
Welland was penalized twice in the final 3:26 of regulation and forced to kill off a 6-on-3 disadvantage as the Terriers pulled their goaltender in favour of the extra attacker. This gave Braxton Fleguel a chance to shine and he certainly did not disappoint, earning the coaches' player of the game honours in the process. The decision was unanimous with the players who chanted his name in the post-game dressing room celebration as well.
The Tigers were 1-for-2 with the man-advantage. Orillia was held scoreless during its two power-play chances.
Welland now faces the Clarington Toros in game two of the tournament at 5:30pm Friday evening.