Major Midgets Solid Against Spits
The Major Midgets hosted Windsor at the Allman Arena on Sunday afternoon. Drew Reinhardt was between the Lakers pipes and in top form for three periods. His first test came in the first period when a Spitfire defender stepped into a slapshot from the top of the face-off circle. Reinhardt moved out to the bottom of the circle to meet the puck. Colton Pickett got his game going early by dropping a big shoulder into the chest of a Spitfire puck carrier.
Each team was assessed four minor penalties in the first period. Eli Adair was very effective on the penalty kill and equally effective on the powerplay, pinching in from the blueline several times to keep the puck in the zone. Darren Kerr’s blanket-like coverage in front of the net prevented a sure goal. David Sproat made a nice rush to gain the zone and then helped throw the puck around looking for a scoring opportunity. Despite plenty of powerplay time for both teams, penalty killers prevailed and the first period was scoreless.
Early in the second Garrett King tried to open the scoring by undressing a defender only to hit the crossbar with his quick shot. Ryan Watson finally made it 1-0, unassisted, when he jumped on a giveaway in front of the Windsor net, made a couple of moves at close range and buried the puck in the bottom left corner. Fourteen seconds later the Lakers Captain was at it again rushing in from the right side to bulge the top left corner – assist Tyler Kettler. After the 2-0 goal Drew Reinhardt got a little help from his crossbar. On the Lakers 6th powerplay of the game Jesse DeGroote nailed a post with a deflected, tumbling slapshot. With 8:44 left in the period, Shane O’Brien rushed in against a defender, moving laterally until he had a clear shot. #20 must’ve gone to school on Watson's earlier shot because he put the puck in exactly the same spot - top left blocker side… 3-0! After a seventh H-P powerplay was negated after 30 seconds, the Lakers found themselves down two men. Faced with a 4 on 3 situation, Reinhardt made his best save of the game by dropping the left pad in front of a low, hard, one- timer. With 35 seconds left in the period Reinhardt made another amazing save on a rising deflection. Unfortunately the rebound stayed near the net for a Windsor tap in….3-1.
Four minutes into the third period the Spits scored again to make a game of it… 3-2. Brandon Priestap was instrumental in restoring the two goal lead. After receiving the puck from Shane O’Brien, the speedster blew down the right side and cut in on net. Threatening to shoot, Priestap froze the goalie and then slid a perfect pass to a charging David Sproat who redirected the puck past the goalie. With :36 left to play, and the Spits net empty in favour of an extra attacker, Priestap advanced the puck past the defense. Sproat picked it up at the blueline and cruised in to salt the game away. Final score…..5-2 Lakers.
