Niagara Falls vs. Welland (11/30)

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Niagara Falls Performance BMW Thunder vs. Welland Lifestyle Financial Tigers (Minor Bantam A)

After mishandling the puck, which allowed the Niagara Falls Performance BMW Thunder to open the scoring at 6:19, #30 Alessandro DeChellis, playing in his first home game of the season, settled down and made several nice saves to keep his team in the game. Unfortunately, the Welland Lifestyle Financial Tigers did not get enough bounces to go their way tonight, suffering a 2-1 loss to the visiting Thunder.

The Tigers, who have played extremely well this season despite the constant juggling of the lineup due to injuries and suspensions, had several good chances to score tonight, but most of their opportunities did not pan out when their shots failed to hit the net, either sailing high or just wide of the intended target. Nonetheless, the Tigers did manage to outshoot their opponents 27-15 and went penalty-free in the 2-1 defeat.

#17 Parker Hayward, a callup from the Minor Peewee A Tigers, played a strong game as did two of the recent returnees to the lineup, #10 Sebastien Beaudoin and #19 Nicholas Beaudoin. Once all of the regulars return to the lineup, this team should be even stronger than their current 7-8-1 record indicates.

DeChellis made the finest save of the evening at either end of the ice, kicking out the right pad to stop a Thunder forward streaking in all alone on the break with 2:42 remaining in the second period.

The Thunder’s only other goal came at 1:40 of the third period when #12 Andrew Oreskovich pounced on one of the few rebounds that could not be covered by DeChellis or cleared out of harm’s way by one of his defencemen. Oreskovich was left open at the right side of the crease, to easily tap home a rebound after two previous unsuccessful attempts were made by others at the uncovered puck. It was one of the few defensive lapses for the Tigers on the evening. Welland’s #12 Jake Vandenbosch was able to solve Thunder netminder #33 Michael Shermet before the game concluded, spoiling his shutout bid with 2:10 left to play, but the Tigers could not get the equalizer even while using an extra-attacker during the last 45 seconds of play, with DeChellis sitting on the bench.

The Tigers were unable to convert on any of the three chances they had with the man-advantage tonight.

The Tigers are right back in action Saturday, facing off against the Fort Erie Jr, Meteors in an afternoon tilt at home.

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Filed under 2007-08 Lifestyle Financial Minor Bantam A Tigers, Sports Writing/Commentary

Tags: 2007-08 Lifestyle Financial Minor Bantam A Tigers, Niagara Falls Thunder, Sports Writing/Commentary