It may very well have been a Super Bowl Blizzard outside the Morgan Firestone Arena on Sunday night, but inside the action was Hot!
The Minor Peewee AE team was in the unique position of finishing their OMHA preliminary play downs in any one of 3 top spots. Their destiny was ultimately in their own hands; a win to clinch sole possession of first place, a tie to secure second, or a loss that would create a 2 team tie and force a 1 game tie breaker.
The top ranked Stoney Creek Warriors were hoping to take the win and clinch 1st place for themselves, and 8 seconds into the game it appeared they might just do it. Immediately off the opening faceoff the Warriors skated up the middle of the ice and flipped a shot over the left shoulder of the Avalanche net minder, stunning the crowd and shocking the Avalanche Bench. Four minutes later the Warriors attacked again and slid home a rebound, stretching their early lead into a two goal advantage.
The Avalanche managed to fend off the early Warrior attack and gather their composure. Controlling the play in the second period and creating multiple scoring chances seemed to be the easy part, however solving the Warrior goalie was the hard part. With 10:34 remaining in the first period DiFederico slid home a Sousa rebound and the Avalanche were ignited. It was Zambon who took advantage of the adrenaline rush, taking a great pass up the wing from Gilmour, Zambon scored to tie the game just 26 seconds later. The Av’s sustained their offensive pressure with chance after chance but were once again stymied by the Warrior goalie.
Deadlocked at 2 goals apiece the third period was an epic battle. Five minutes into the third period Misale fed the puck to Zambon who managed to slip a pass across the crease to Sousa who made no mistake about sliding the puck into the back of the net. With a one goal lead and a first place berth on the line, it was Zambon from Sousa with just over 2 minutes remaining in the third that scored the insurance goal for the Avalanche. A late Avalanche penalty and a Warrior empty net saw the 2 goal lead shrink to 1 in the final seconds of the game, but it was too little too late and the Minor Peewee AE team celebrated a huge 4-3 win!
Coach Misale was very proud of his players and acknowledged their exceptional team play, their grit and their determination in the comeback win!
The Avalanche will advance to the next round of OMHA playoffs vs the Oakville Rangers or the Guelph Gryphons.