Nov 21, 2012 | KLarochelle | 366 views
Stunning two goals in final 39 seconds net Wolverines a point.
The Snow's Appliance Bantam Wolverines L/L pulled off a stunning come from behind effort in the third period to secure a valuable point on Tuesday night versus the Cambridge Road Runners with less than a minute left in the game.
The Wolverines stunned the Roadrunners with two goals in 39 seconds in the final minute of the third period, the final goal a buzzer beater with less than a second remaining. Those two late goals pushed the Wolverines to thrilling 4-4 tie in a pulsating A-League preview at the Wilmot Rec Complex. Cambridge looked to have the victory well at hand, were it not for Ashley Leu who exploded for the Wolverines final three goals in the second half of the game, earning her team a valuable point in the race to for top spot in the Kitchener Girls Local League.
The Wolverines found themselves down quickly by two at the end of the first. The Roadrunners proved to be a slick passing team that out skated and out raced Wilmot to the puck. Coach Larochelle lit a fire in between periods challenging the Wolverines to play their style hockey by being first on the puck. Captain Jess Leiskau responded two minutes into the second fighting off a hard backcheck to deposit a backhand, getting Wilmot on the board. Brooke Debeau then fed Ashley Leu a sweet pass from the point less than a minute later to tie the game at two. Before the end of the second frame Cambridge would pot their third of game off a goal mouth scramble to regain the lead.
The third period would see Wilmot exchange chances, only to find themselves down by two with only three minutes remaining in the game. Goaltender Abbey Luckhardt made several ten bell saves to keep her team close enough to challenge, and challenge they did. Luckhardt scrambled to the bench in the final minute of the game, to allow Cass Schmidt to help keep pressure deep in the Roadrunners zone. She saucered a pass to Leiskau who moved it quickly over to Leu for the tap in with 39 seconds remaining on the clock. On the puck drop, the Wolverines again pushed deep into Roadrunner territory allowing the extra player to hit the ice. Cambridge thought they had victory all but secured when they tried to ice the puck with less than 10 seconds remaining. Kira Larochelle came back hard to her blue line retrieving the puck and moving forward over centre with seven seconds remaining and spotted Cass VanKalsbeek with a tape to tape pass. Cass moved in on net letting loose a wicked wrist shot, that the Road Runners goalie was just able to get a blocker on. The rebound resulted in a goal mouth scramble, where by Ashley Leu was able to get stick on puck, slapping it across the line as the buzzer sounded.
The Snow's Appliance Bantam Wolverines improved their record to 6-2-2, equaling their total points from all of last season in just ten games this year. Through hard work and determination the team has played the past month without five regulars out due to injury and illness, yet remain near the top of the league. Your coaching staff have been impressed with the level of team work you have displayed the past month. Go Wolverines Go!
P.S.- A special thanks this week goes out to Dan Fronchak, for the photo shoot!