Expectations were high as the Saugeen Maitland Bantam AA Lightning opened their Lower Lakes League Final tournament against the top ranked Whitby Wolves.
Lexi Smith opened the scoring for the Bolts after the Whitby goaltender fumbled a point shot from Nikki Zabel. Whitby battled back to score the equalizer and pressed hard to go ahead. However, Lightning goaltender Rebecca Ropp would not allow another goal and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. The Lightning’s second game of the 4 team round robin was against the rival Oakville Hornets. Again the Bolts tallied first with Kaitlyn Eckert scoring and assists going to Miranda Lantz and Maddie Duncan. The Lightning carried much of the play, but the pesky Hornets scored early in the 3
rd period to tie the score at ones. The puck-stoppers were stingy again as the Oakville goalie and Lightning net-minder Morgan Baker shut the door and the game end in another 1-1 draw. With the two ties, the Lightning needed a win over the Aurora Panthers for a shot at the gold-medal game. The Lightning got into some penalty trouble in the second period and the Panthers scored 2 power play goals. Needing a win, the Lightning pulled their goaltender with close to 6 minutes remaining and Cassidy Mason scored to make it 2-1. Despite some furious late pressure from the Lightning to score the equalizer, Aurora scored an empty netter to ice the game, 3-1.
The loss put the Lightning into the bronze medal game against Oakville on Saturday afternoon. The Bolts seemed a little disheartened and it showed as the Hornets scored 2 early goals. However, the Lightning showed their mettle and came back with two of their own to tie the game before the end of 2 periods. Lantz notched one on the power play from Smith and Ciara Lark. Eckert then scored on a seeing-eye shot from Neve VanPelt. A fluky Oakville goal on a dump-in deflected off a glass stanchion was the difference as the Hornets and Lightning traded another pair of third period goals for a final score of 4-3. Tori Terpstra scored the final Lightning goal from Lark and Ashlee Lawrence. The Lightning have no reason to hang their heads as two ties and a pair of one goal games with the top teams in the province proves the team’s competitiveness. The Lightning now have 2 weeks to prepare for the year end OWHA Provincial tournament in the GTA. Follow the Lightning results at www.saugeenmaitlandlightning.com