Avalanche Show Playoff Desire In Comeback Win.
Ancaster’s Atom AE team travelled to Milton on
Sunday afternoon for a must win match up with the Winter Hawks. A Milton victory would all but secure Milton
a trip to the Tri-County Finals.
Ancaster controlled play early and won the puck possession time in the first period. Despite controlling play, Ancaster was unable to find the back of the net. Ancaster had a power play opportunity, controlling the puck well, however a lack of shots kept the score 0-0 after 1.
Milton scored the first goal at 5:56 of period 2 and the Avalanche were now in an uphill battle. A double minor on Ancaster made things look gloomy. The sky nearly fell when a second minor was called with 21 seconds left in the first minor. Ancaster was forced to play 5 on 3 hockey for a full 2 minutes. 5 on 3 has been the Avalanche’s Achilles heel all season.
A world-class penalty kill killed all 3 penalties and set the tone for the third period. The third period would see Milton run into penalty trouble. 34 seconds into the period Andrew scored on the power play to tie the game. With 6:59 left Josh made a smart rush on the power play and fired a beautiful shot past the Milton net minder. Cleary the biggest goal of Josh’s career! Just over a minute later Marcus added insurance and a 3-1 lead gave Ancaster a cushion.
Fantastic discipline and team play shut Milton down for the 5 minutes and Ancaster had a 3-1 victory and the drivers seat in the play off run.
Of special note was Zack stepping in for the locked out Brendan in net and playing stellar hockey. Hopefully the owners will settle with Brendan soon.
Coach Ed believes his stirring pre-game talk was the key factor in the game. To see this speech, click this link.
http://youtu.be/2CdJTfGiRCI
Ancaster travels to Stoney Creek on Thursday night for another big game.