Nov 01, 2019 | jdisher | 193 views
Tigers Save Best Work For Last
Strong third period performances earned the Welland Telus Tigers two victories on day one of the Peter Mancuso November Challenge hosted by Niagara Falls Minor Hockey.
Tyler Ray scored in the first minute of their opening game against the Don Mills Mustangs to set an early tone but it was largely a third period surge that propelled the team to a 5-1 victory.
Welland's effort eased up considerably in the second period, which resulted in spending nearly all of the ten minutes in their own end of the ice on defence and that kept that game much closer than it needed to be but they eventually would find their legs and offense in the third period to skate to a relatively easy 5-1 win.
Along with Ray, the Tigers received goals from Blake Turner, Everett Hemauer, Ryan Reeves and Alexander McQuillan. Noah Bovine, Ray, Dayton Flatt, Jordan Raso and Reeves all added helpers. Gavin Beck came within 2:44 of a whitewash before Simon Bratt was able to sneak one by.
Game two was a solid thirty minutes of hockey throughout and other than not converting on some of their better scoring opportunities very little could be criticized as the team moved the puck and skated well. Blake Turner eventually would record the game-winning goal on an assist from McQuillan with just over six minutes remaining as Welland played one of their most complete hockey games to date. Lukas Biggar earned his fourth shutout of the year with another outstanding performance.
Welland closes out the round-robin portion of the tournament tomorrow at 2pm at the Gale Centre against the Humberview Huskies. Semi-final games are scheduled for 8pm on Saturday evening in Niagara Falls with the winners of Group A and B advancing as well as two teams from Welland's Group C.