This
week, the Boys in Black found themselves cast adrift in their own zone time and
time again, as they struggled to keep their heads above water against a speedy
young Ancaster Islanders team.
The Sabres opened the scoring early with a goal by Thomas at
8:52 in the first period. This only
seemed to ignite the Islanders offense, as they answered back twice in the
first period, going into the 2nd with a 2-1 lead. This week’s netminder Zachary found himself with
plenty of business as the Islanders kept the pressure up in the 2nd
period, scoring another goal halfway through and pulling ahead 3-1. Defensemen Nathan, Kyle and Nathaniel poured
on the pressure with a strong backchecking effort, limiting scoring chances by
clogging up the Islanders’ shooting lanes.
Cole, Jack and Mark continued exploiting gaps in the opposing defense,
only to see opportunities vanish as a scrappy Islander team collapsed on the
puck and cleared it out of the zone, trapping the Sabres in their own end. Determined attacks and hard shots by Andrew
and Daniel found no weaknesses in the Islanders’ goalie, who did a fine job
picking up the puck through heavy traffic.
Even down 3-1 at the beginning of the third period, the
Sabres weren’t through fighting, as they picked up another goal at 9:58,
cutting the Islanders' lead to one. Tobin
stepped up the pace at center, pushing deep into the Islanders zone flanked by
Mark and Xavier, who battled hard on the forecheck to keep the Sabres’ scoring
chances alive. Never one to miss out on
a play, Michael picked up a loose puck at the half boards and flipped a brilliant
no-look backhand dump pass to the wing, only to see the shot blocked in front
of the goal.
With 5:26 left in the game, the Islanders would notch their
fourth goal, seemingly putting the game out of reach. However, Braeden failed to get the memo,
plowing ahead up the left side of the ice on a solo breakaway and roofing a
blistering wrist shot past the goalie’s outstretched glove with a mere 5.6
seconds remaining on the clock. This
never-say-die attitude exemplifies Sabres hockey and was a fitting punctuation
to a game where this team showed that they never stop fighting until the final
buzzer sounds.
Cheering his teammates from the bench was Harry, who despite
being on Injured Reserve, donned his Sabres jersey and encouraged his team
throughout the game. This week’s
Ancaster Sabres Hardhat award was handed to Thomas, who kept up a furious pace
throughout the game, both pressing the attack on offense and rushing back the
other way to break up scoring chances for his opponents. Great work, Thomas!
Congratulations
to the Islanders on their victory. This
week the Sabres regroup for their upcoming game versus the Thrashers, but not
before putting a message in a bottle and floating it over to the Islanders’
camp – “We’ll meet again!”