Cens Grab Three of a Possible Four Points Last Thursday Oct. 10th the Centennials hosted the Paris Mounties in a battle for first place. These are two evenly matched teams that had ended both previous games this season in over time. (Ayr winning the first and Paris the second.) Ex Centennial Scott Sipple opened the scoring for Paris 8:19 into the game with a power play marker. Ayr tied it up with 59 seconds remaining in the first. Brandon Christopher picked the puck up at the half boards and carried into the corner before cutting to the net. The Paris keeper, expecting a cross crease pass cheated off the post and B.C. backhanded it in the short side. Assists went to Adam Fisher and Jack Taylor. The Cens took the lead 57 seconds into the second period with a power play goal. Jordan Pettitt found Brett Gibson breaking down the right side. Gibby let a shot go from the top of the circle and went hard to the net to cash in his own rebound. Ayr made it 3-1 37 seconds later. Christopher fed it back to the left point where Mac Kemp was waiting to one time it on net. Fisher was in his office at the top of the blue ice a deflected it in. The Centennials found out to late what happens in this league if you don’t play for sixty minutes as the Mounties scored two third period goals to force over time. A questionable slashing call against the Cens in OT forced the Cens PK to come up big and as is often the case your goaltender is your best penalty killer. Lee Doherty showed amazing lateral movement with 27 seconds left in the OT to force a shoot out. The first five shooters were denied but Paris’s third shooter, Ian Fowler, put the game away for the Mounties. This was an excellent game with end to end rushes, lightening quick transitions, thundering body checks and skill on both teams. A far cry from what the Centennials would encounter the following night in Tavistock. Friday night the Cens traveled to Tavistock to take on the sixth place Braces. Tavi opened the scoring at the 5:23 mark of the opening frame as the Cens came out of the gate a bit slow. Midway through the period Ayr picked it up and evened things up at 10:33 with a power play goal. Great puck movement ended with a pass out of the corner from Brendon Schaefer to Jordan Pettitt at the left point. Pettitt then fired a slap pass to Fisher (parked at the back door), who deflected it in with his backhand. Ayr took the lead with 4:54 left in the frame after a battle on the end boards was won by Jake Whibbs. Jake found Jordan Kerr in the slot and Kerr collected his first goal as a Centennial. The majority of teams playing in Jr. C have opted to go with a visor instead of a full cage. Tavi are still wearing full cages and seem to have no problem heading into scrums with their sticks up. As a result they received two 4:00 high sticking (drawing blood) penalties in the first period. Ayr opened the scoring in the second while on one of those power plays. Gibby fed it back to Eric Hackborn on the left point. Quick D2D got the puck to Pettitt on the right point and He moved in and wristed one home from the top of the circle. The second period saw a rash of penalties called against the Cens leaving them killing off a five on three Tavi advantage that lasted just under four minutes. Five on five it was no contest and the Cens made it 4-1 when Jack Taylor dished it up for Mike McKnight on the right point. Knighter unleashed a boomer that blew the water bottle off the net to emphasize the goal. Great speed on the fore check by Andrew Richard and Gibby created a goal mouth scramble that Gibson ended by putting the Cens up 5-1. What followed was what most of us thought had ended back when Dave “The Hammer Schultz” , “Mad Dog Kelly” and “Jr D” were still around. Down 5-1 Tavi took to intimidation. Don Cherry would be so proud of players wearing full cages picking fights with visors. The majority of teams in the league have moved on to the skill game that is required at the Jr. C level but apparently some haven’t. Tavi finished the scoring with a third period power play goal to make the final 5-2 for Ayr. The Centennial’s next home game is this Thursday Oct. 17th when they will host the New Hamburg Firebirds for the first time. After the Week end games the Firebirds sit in first with a game in hand on Ayr and two on Paris who now sit in second. Friday the Cens (7-1-2) travel to Norwich for their first meeting with the Merchants (6-2-0). This is some great Jr. hockey action so come on down to the NDCC and check it out. Don’t take my word for it.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 04:07:20 +0000
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