Dunnville Peewee1 edges Pelham1 to win in close contest
Posted By MIKE SHEELER, CHRONICLE EDITOR/REPORTER
Posted 2 months ago
The game started fast and furious for both teams as the action went end to end with chances coming early on the nets at either end of the ice last Saturday.
Dunnville's captain tore into Pelham's zone and put a blistering shot on net which Pelham's goalie, number 30 Colin Burgess, saved. Burgess stopped a small barrage over the next minute of play to keep the game scoreless in the early going of the first period.
The Pelham Panthers pressed the attack into Dunnville's end briefly but the Riverton Flyers pushed back and controlled the puck for most of the remaining time. The Panthers goalie Burgess stole the show making stop after stop on a strong Dunnville offense.
Dunnville put up more hard-nosed fundamentals and earned themselves a power play with 3:34 left in the first when Pelham's number 10, Griffin Litalien, took a minor penalty for tripping. The Panthers weathered the onslaught and made it through the penalty unscathed.
Dunnville failed to score and took a penalty of their own before the end of their power play giving the players a chance to play with more open ice with four on four play for 16 seconds.
The Flyers killed the penalty until the clock ran out leaving 10 seconds of penalty time to carry over to the second period.
The home team killed the remainder of the penalty without incident but seemed to have lost some of their earlier energy during the onset of the second. That lag in play didn't last long however as Dunnville got back on their work horse and peppered Pelham's net with shot after shot until midway through the second.
Play evened out as the period moved on with equal chances at both ends of the ice. Dunnville finally broke the stalemate with only 1:23 left in the second period when number 29, Austin Charnley, scored with a nice shot in close to the net.
Pelham broke into Dunnville's end shortly after play resumed but the offensive rush was called back on an off side ruling by the linesman. Dunnville took that one goal lead with them into the third period along with a power play when Pelham's number 13, Issaac Richl, took a minor for hooking with only 19 seconds left in the second period.
Dunnville tried hard to use their power play early in the third but Pelham killed it off and kept the deficit to a single goal. Number 77, Tyler Bowden, for the Flyers rung a hard shot off the post at 13:35 in the third, narrowly missing a goal. The persistence of the Flyers players paid off at 11:03 when Captain Nathan Lewis coasted a slick backhand shot past Pelham's net-minder to put his team up two to one. The goal seemed to deflate the Pelham team.
Dunnville maintained the pressure and notched a third goal at 9:51 thanks to number 6, Jared Dixon, putting his team up three to one and putting Pelham behind the gun with less than 10 minutes left in the third period.
Pelham didn't wait long to respond when they scored less than a minute later at 9:06. Nick Rietfeld, number 17, potted the marker.
Play went back and forth for seven minutes or so giving the Panthers little time left to mount a comeback. Pelham pulled their goalie with only a minute left to get a sixth attacker, giving them a chance to score but Dunnville clogged the neutral zone and didn't allow Pelham clean entrance into their end killing the rest of the game. The final was three to one for Dunnville.
