Jan 27, 2020 | jdisher | 271 views
Tigers-Bombers Skate To A Draw
The Welland Telus Tigers nearly closed out their regular season schedule with a win but a late goal with thirty-nine seconds left had them settling for their second tie in as many games.
After a scoreless first period Ryan Reeves put the home side on the scoreboard first with a goal two minutes into the second period from Noah Bovine.
Jackson Heywood scored a few minutes later to knot the game at one with his first of two goals on the night before Blake Turner edged the Tigers ahead near the ten-minute mark of the second period with an assist by Raphael Boucher. The lead was short-lived however as Heywood answered with his second tally only half-a-minute later.
Alexander McQuillan, from Tyler Ray and Turner, put the Tigers ahead for the third time in the game with just over twelve minutes remaining but Glancaster would get several chances in the final minute to bang in the loose puck as it rolled around in the crease area and was not able to be frozen or cleared away and they ended up being successful on their third attempt.
The Tigers, with twelve of a possible sixteen points in their nine January games, have been playing excellent hockey of late and will definitely be a strong contender during this weekend's Niagara District OMHA Preliminaries tournament which they are hosting beginning on Friday. Welland, 14-8-6, finished fifth overall and had the league's second-best goals-against.
Welland starts play on Friday at 10:30am against Niagara Falls followed by Garden City at 3:30pm. Saturday sees the Tigers square off against West Niagara at 10:30am and Glancaster at 2pm. Welland's final round-robin game is on Sunday at 8:45am in St. Catharines against Stoney Creek. The top four teams will then play Semi-final matchups at 1pm and 2:30pm, also in St. Catharines, with the two winners from those games advancing to play a four-point series during the following week to determine the Niagara District representative in the OMHA Quarterfinals.