Continued improvement
in the offensive zone helped the Saugeen Maitland Bantam A Lightning pepper two
tough opponents with scoring opportunities on the weekend. Combined with strong
skating and sound defense, the SML ladies outshot both Waterloo and Guelph,
with both opposing goalies recording shutouts during a weekend of disappointing
results for the Lightning.
The struggle to fill the net, while dominating on scoring chances and shots, continued to haunt the Bantam A ladies, stalling the team in league standings. Ironically, the team’s offensive power outage appears to have had little effect on their defensive prowess, as they only allowed one goal during the two game stand.
On Saturday the 21st the Saugeen Maitland Lightning used home ice to force their fast skating, high pressure game on the Waterloo Ravens. When the dust settled, the score ended tied with an empty score sheet, despite the Lightning out shooting and out-chancing the Ravens. The goalies from both teams took control of the game, with the Lightning’s Rose Pande turning aside the Ravens and recording the shutout for the locals.
On the road in Guelph on Sunday the 22nd, the Lightning faced a much tougher challenge as they hit the ice to tackle the Jr. Gryphons. Once again, goaltending was the order of the day as both goalies played outstanding games. Like the day before, the Lightning used their best assets but failed to gain victory in a 1 to 0 loss to Guelph. Guelph scored the only goal of the game in the first minute of the first period as they appeared to catch the Lightning off guard with strong play right off the face off. While the Lightning recovered quickly from their initial lapse, they failed to beat the Gryphons' goalie despite outshooting and out-chancing the home team for the majority of the game.
Submitted by:
R.E. Porter
(John Elvidge)