Guelph vs. Welland (12/12)

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Guelph Jr. Storm Cooperators vs. Welland E.S. Fox Limited Tigers

The Welland E.S. Fox Limited Tigers have hearts of champions, both on the ice and off.  This week the team decided to forego a team Christmas party and used that money to make a donation to the local Hope Centre instead.  They then took to the ice and overcame a three-goal deficit Wednesday evening to edge the visiting Guelph Jr. Storm Cooperators in Major Bantam AAA action by a 5-4 final score.

Guelph stormed out of the gate scoring three goals in the first 5:55 of play to take an early three goal lead, in large part due to physically overwhelming the Tigers with their additional size. A terrific save by Welland’s #20 Shane McLean, just moments after the third Guelph goal was recorded, seemed to turn the tide in favour of the Tigers as they played much better during the remaining three minutes of the opening period. McLean slid across to rob the Guelph forward who had received a cross-crease pass in one of his most impressive stops of the night.

A shot from the right boards by #5 Connor Harvie snuck past the Guelph Storm netminder #35 Taylor O’Keefe to get the Tigers on the scoreboard at 2:29 of the second, with #9 Adam Mataya assisting on the play. #14 Dylan Gatt jumped on the rebound, after a goal-mouth scramble, to pull the Tigers closer at 8:58 on helpers from #8 Joey Sacco and #18 Matt Mateljan.

#15 Brett Lustri put away another rebound, at 6:40 of the third period to tie the game 3-3. #18 Mateljan would give Welland the lead at 6:40 of the period, converting from #14 Gatt and #9 Mataya on the powerplay. At 12:07 #9 Mataya waited for the Guelph netminder to lower his shoulder before placing a pinpoint shot into the top right-hand corner for a 5-3 lead for the home side. Mateljan would find the iron eighteen seconds later, as he blistered a shot off the post, missing a goal by inches. Guelph would make things interesting, lighting the lamp at 13:34 of the period to make it 5-4, but the Tigers held them off during the final 1:26 to earn the victory.  Scoring for the Jr. Storm on the evening were Hayden Bishop, Stephen Peirog, Brandon Anselmini and Mitch Brown.  Daniel Cotroneo and Evan Canzi collected two assists each on the night, while Shane MacDonald, William Flanigan and Alex Cremasco contributed one helper each in the losing cause.

The Jr. Storm outshot Welland 37-25. The Tigers were 1-for-4 with the man-advantage, while the Storm were 0-for-1.  With the victory, the Welland E.S. Fox Limited Tigers improve to 8-13-1 on the season heading into their next game verus the Halton Hurricanes on Saturday in Halton.

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Filed under 2007-08 E.S. Fox Ltd. Major Bantam AAA Tigers, Sports Writing/Commentary

Tags: 2007-08 E.S. Fox Ltd. Major Bantam AAA Tigers, Guelph Jr. Storm Cooperators, Sports Writing/Commentary