On the heals of an offensive outburst by the Amherstburg Stars Select 7 travel hockey team, head coach Sid Doe gave the “hard work” award to the entire team. It was a complete effort from the opening face-off to the final whistle. The Amherstburg team spread the offense around, scoring 12 goals from 7 different players while holding Leamington to just 3 shots throughout the game.
The Amherstburg Stars cruised into Leamington for a 2pm game at the Leamington Recreational Complex and it didn’t take them long to get things rolling. Just 40 seconds into the game, Rees Kozar let a wrist shot go and beat the Leamington goalie short side to make it 1-0 Stars. Just 36 seconds later, Drake McGowan broke in on goal and slipped one past the goalie to make it 2-0 at the 1:16 mark of the first period.
The Stars offense continued to shine in front of a stellar defense and sent a flurry of shots at the Leamington net minder until Jake Orchard buried another one at the 2:09 mark to make it 3-0. From the ensuing faceoff, Sebastien Tronchin corralled a loss puck, weaved his way through the Leamington defense and beat the glove of the Leamington goalie to make it 4-0 at 2:26 of the first.
With a commanding 4-0 lead, it was time for the Stars net minder, Jayden Duchesne to show Leamington that the office was closed at the other end of the rink. Leamington broke in for 2 breakaways at the 3:23 and 4:15 mark of the first, only to come away empty handed thanks to the quick feet and good positioning of Duchesne.
Following the second save from Duchesne, Noah Duggan grabbed the puck from the right side of his own net and was off to the races from there. Duggan used quick forehand/backhand moves to weave his way through the Leamington forwards and defense for a clear breakaway on the Leamington net minder. With the puck on his forehand, Duggan rifled the puck top shelf, glove side of the Leamington tender to make it 5-0 at 4:25.
Drew Booker stepped out for the next shift and peppered the Leamington goalie with 4 shots in less than a minute. Though no goal was scored, I don’t think the Leamington goalie wants to see #7 of the Stars any time soon.
The Stars took their 5-0 lead into the second period and wasted no time getting started as Drake McGowan broke in all alone but was tripped from behind before he could get a shot off. A penalty was called on the play. Now with the man advantage, the Stars were pressing for another goal but a clearing attempt by the Leamington team eluded our defense and a Leamington forward streaked down the left wing all alone. Alexandra Seagris would have none of that. Seagris kicked it into high gear and was able to knock the puck away from the streaking forward and no shot attempt was made. This play by Seagris was just one of many from the Stars outstanding defense. Hayden Bondy, Andrew DiGiovanni, Layne Sinasac, Cameron Sinasac and Gavin Meloche all came up with big plays to hold the blue line and keep the puck in the Leamington zone for the majority of the game. And when the time came to clear the puck from the Stars defensive zone, they were again equal to the task.
The second period was much like the first with the Stars carrying the play. Keiran Thrasher broke loose from the Leamington defense to bury a power play goal at 1:00 of the second. Jake Orchard buried his second of the game to make it 7-0 at 1:54. After a little back and forth play and a great shot block from Cameron Sinasac, Keiran Thrasher netted his second of the game at 4:30 and increased the lead to 8-0.
Brock Boyko who replaced Jayden Duchesne in the Stars net for the second half of the game made his one and only save at the 5:39 mark of the second to preserve the Stars shutout. Though he only had to make one save, Boyko decided to put a little fear into the coaching staff and fans in the crowd by paddling a puck with a quick swipe of the stick that may have been headed for the near post.
Colin Cote then got the Stars rolling again. Cote buried a hard wrist shot at 6:15 of the second after just missing wide right less than two minutes earlier. Just 15 seconds later, Rees Kozar blasted a shot past the Leamington tender for his second of the game to make it 10-0. And before the second period came to an end, Kieran Thrasher made a nifty pass up to a streaking Sebastien Tronchin who beat the Leamington goalie for his second of the game, making it 11-0.
In a third period cut short due to time limit, Rees Kozar completed his hat trick with a sweet back-hand shot that eluded the Leamington tender.
That brings us to our feature player, Carson Allen. Though Carson did not figure in on the scoring, he was all over the ice wreaking havoc for the Leamington defense. Carson repeatedly dug pucks out of the corner and stationed himself in scoring positions and just missed a shot short side at 2:57 of the first period. Following the game, Carson was interviewed and had this to say:
Name – Carson Allen
Shoots – Right
Favorite team – Detroit Redwings
Favorite player – Henrik Zetterberg
Future ambition – Police officer
Favorite food – Pizza
What he likes best about hockey – Scoring goals
Favorite part of today’s game – We all played hard
