Nov 11, 2015 | spandes | 929 views
Lightning Strike Twice On Weekend
Saugeen Maitland Lightning Bantam A team made it a clean sweep this past weekend as they recorded two wins in league play. Improved puck possession and relentless skating helped power the Lightning as they out worked and wore down North Halton and Woolwich to improve their position in league standings.
SML goaltender Marissa Cottingham tamed the Woolwich Wild on Saturday before the home fans at the Howick Township Community Centre, as she earned the shut out in a 2 to 0 win, in an entertaining affair that thrilled SML supporters at the organization’s Annual Sponsor Day.
Solid defensive support from Rylynn Sinclair, Landis King, Mattie Shipp, Mercedes Potter and Cassidy Elvidge made the job of managing the Lightning goal easier for Cottingham as the Lightning had to kill six penalties to preserve the shut out.
With Lightning forwards pounding the Wild goal with 15 shots on 30 scoring opportunities, it still took the locals until late in the second period to beat the Wild goaltender. A power play goal late in the third period cemented the Lightning victory.
With no scoring in the first period, the Lightning had to deal with two back-to-back penalty kills, with the team in a three-on-five penalty kill for a little over a minute, limiting the Wild to only three scoring chances. The period ended with the Lightning on the power play. While the girls managed to fire two shots on goal, they still didn’t put one past the Wild goaltender.
The middle frame produced much of same as the first, as the Lightning continued to put pressure on the Wild in all three zones, killing off another penalty early in the period. A Wild penalty late in the period proved to be the opportunity the Lightning needed, as team work from Landis King, Mattie Shipp and Taylor McLellan produced a shot from Halie Tanner which was stopped with Natalie Fischer hammering home the rebound giving the lightning a 1 to 0 lead. The second ended with the locals back on the penalty kill.
The third period opened with the Lightning still on the penalty kill, only allowing the Wild two shots on goal, while the locals earned a short-handed scoring opportunity that they failed to convert. With less than five minutes to play in the game, solid checking in the neutral zone by Landis King and Rylynn Sinclair, allowed Keltie Talbot to force a turnover which the Lightning’s Avery Wettlaufer wrestled away from the Wild and drove the net, dishing off a short pass to Allison Stevenson, who buried a shot in the Wild net giving the SML ladies a 2 to 0 lead. Determined efforts by Lightning forwards Jayedyn Solomon, Addison Fisher and Myea Fleet helped the home team limit the Wild to only two more shots in two more penalty kills, ending the game at 2 to 0 for the Lightning.
Sunday afternoon’s tilt in Milton against the North Halton Twisters was a much tougher test for the Lightning Bantam A team. The Lightning pressed the play right from the drop of the puck in the first period, peppering the North Halton goal with nine shots and only allowing the Twisters two opportunities to test Lightning goaltender Rose Pande. Late in the first frame the home team managed to get one of those shots into the Lightning goal to take a 1 to 0 lead over the visiting Lightning.
The second period continued to favour the hard work and elevated level of compete displayed by the Saugeen Maitland ladies, but the Twister goaltender rose to the challenge turning aside numerous scoring opportunities from the hard-pressing Lightning. The Twisters answered the Lightning onslaught with an equally hard attack that Lightning goaltender Pande skillfully matched her counterpart within the other goal, turning aside every Twister shot. Finally, just as the clock entered the final minute of the frame, the Lightning struck to tie the game as Taylor McLellan pounced on a puck from Addison Fisher, produced from hard work by Myea Fleet, Rylynn Sinclair and Landis King. The period ended at 1 to 1.
The Lightning started the third period a little flat and paid an immediate price for their uninspired start, as North Halton raised a few eyebrows with the go-ahead goal on the first shift of the final frame, taking a 2 to 1 lead. Fortunately for the Lightning, that would be only challenge of the final period from the local team, as the Lightning responded five minutes later to tie the game at 2 to 2 when Myea Fleet completed an unassisted effort made possible by the determined play of Mercedes Potter, Allison Stevenson, Keltie Talbot and Landis King.
Following a penalty kill that resulted in no shots on Pande thanks to some great defensive play by Mattie Shipp, the Lightning cemented the victory with two more goals. With just over three minutes to go, Addison Fisher scored with the assist going to Taylor McLellan, with honourable mentions going to Jayedyn Solomon, Mercedes Potter, Rylynn Sinclair and Natalie Fischer to make the score 3 to 2.
The Lightning put the game in the history books as a 4 to 2 win when they took advantage of North Halton’s final attempt to tie the score by pulling their goalie. Avery Wettlaufer put the puck in the empty net with the only helper going to Allison Stevenson at the 29 second mark of the third period. Tight defensive play by Rylynn Sinclair, Cassidy Elvidge and Keltie Talbot helped produce the Lightning’s final goal.
The Lightning has little time to enjoy their success as they prepare for a tournament in Ottawa this coming weekend.
John Elvidge