Oakville vs. Welland (11/30)

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Oakville Rangers vs. Welland Cogeco Tigers (Minor Peewee AAA)

The Welland Cogeco Tigers doubled-up on the visiting Oakville Rangers 4-2 in Minor Peewee AAA action tonight. While the Tigers didn’t play their smartest game tonight at times, they played well enough at other times to overcome some poor officiating and poor decisions while in the offensive zone.

#9 Brayden Stortz was able to find #11 Ty Learn at 4:36 of the first period to open the scoring, as #11 Learn tapped in the rebound from in close for a 1-0 Tigers lead. After the Rangers tied the game on a beautiful shot from #16 that managed to find what little room there was on the short-side just inside the post and crossbar, #11 Learn and #9 Stortz nearly connected again with 55.7 left in the period.

Welland’s #19 Matt Martin was robbed by the left glove of Rangers netminder #1 in the opening minute of the second before Oakville went ahead 2-1 at 10:58 of the period on another shot to the short-side of the cage that evaded #30 Brandon Iwanchuk. The Tigers tied it up on the power-play, with #12 Tyler Pulchalski converting on passes from #4 Pete Denardi and #18 Zach Main. #11 Learn and #9 Stortz then hooked up once again, with 31.6 left to play in the second stanza, to give the Tigers a 3-2 advantage. Before the period ended #30 Iwanchuk was forced to make two formidable stops with 8.2 seconds remaining to keep the Tigers ahead.

#19 Matt Martin would add an insurance goal at 7:12 of the third period, putting the Tigers ahead 4-2. #14 Joey Azotini made one of the most impressive defensive plays of the game with two minutes remaining, rushing back hard on the backcheck and diving to thwart a breakaway chance with a fantastic poke-check.

The Tigers outshot the Rangers 29-20, and were 1-for-4 on the power-play. Oakvile was unable to convert on any of its four man-advantage situations, a testament to the great defensive effort shown this evening by the Tigers, both at even-strength and while short-handed.

While the defensive effort was spectular for the most part, the tendency on offense tonight was to hold onto the puck far too long once gaining the offensive blueline. Instead of hitting the open man with the better chance to score, a few players on several occasions decided to skate deep into the offensive zone and rely on themselves to create the offense single-handedly, which it should be pointed out, resulted in 0 goals for the home side tonight. Thankfully this selfish play did not cost the Tigers this evening, but these players should keep in mind that this is not how the team has found success so far this season. Welland improves to 10-6-3 with tonight’s victory.

The Tigers take on the Grey-Bruce Highlanders tomorrow afternoon at home in their next contest.

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Filed under 2007-08 Cogeco Cable Solutions Minor Peewee AAA Tigers, Sports Writing/Commentary

Tags: 2007-08 Cogeco Cable Solutions Minor Peewee AAA Tigers, Oakville Rangers, Sports Writing/Commentary