Great Defensive Effort Earns Stars a Tie With Sabres – Sunday December 18, 2011, News, Select 7, Travel Teams, 2011-2012 (Amherstburg Minor Hockey Association)

Just 40 seconds into the first period, Cameron Sinasac used his great skating and defensive skills to stop the LaSalle forward from getting a shot on a clear breakaway.  At 3:35 of the first, Andrew Digiovanni also put on a fine defensive display with some strong stick work to prevent a scoring chance by the Sabres.  Shortly after this, Noah Duggan with some fine stick handling, found himself behind the Sabre’s defense heading in on a break-away only to be tripped up and wasn’t able to get a scoring chance.  On his next shift, Duggan continued his strong play but at the other end of the ice this time by hustling back to make a great back check and stealing the puck from the Sabres.  The first period closed with Sebastien Tronchin making a fantastic pass to Colin Cote who was robbed of a goal by the Sabre’s net minder and then Cote returned the favour by passing the puck over to Tronchin who fired a one-timer at the Sabre’s goalie but another fine save was made.

The second period saw the Sabres get their first shot on net at 1:15, but the quick mobility of Jayden Duchesne prevented the Sabres from striking first.  45 seconds later, Duchesne was put to the test again, this time saving a slot shot from the left faceoff circle area.  These 2 saves seemed to ignite the Stars as they came out hard the next shift.  Noah Duggan, who was this game’s feature player, skated in on the left wing and fired a hard wrist shot only to turned aside by the right pad of the Sabre’s net minder.  At the end of the same shift, Duggan found himself in the same position on the left wing and fired another hard wrist shot which just missed the left side of the net.  After a line change, the Stars kept up the pressure in the Sabre’s end of the ice and their hard work finally paid off.  Alexandra Seagris, after battling along the boards for a loose puck, threaded a beautiful pass to Colin Cote who was stationed out front of the Sabre’s net.  Cote made no mistake burying a hard wrist shot top shelf to give the Stars a 1-0 lead at 4:14.  The next shift saw Carson Allen make a great pass to Sebastien Tronchin stationed to the right of the Sabre’s net.  Tronchin attempted to one-time the shot but wasn’t able to get the shot off properly.  Now it was time for the defense to step up again.  Hayden Bondy made a great defensive play to break up a 2 on 1 for the Sabres and then Jayden Duchesne came up with another great save at 5:26 to keep the score at 1-0.  Kieran Thrasher showed his great skating abilities by hustling back to stop a scoring chance on a breakaway by the Sabres.  With the puck at the Sabre’s end of the ice now, Rees Kozar who battled hard to capture a loose puck, stick handled his way to the slot position and fired a cannon of a shot that beat the Sabre’s goalie, but found the left post behind him and deflected off into the corner.  Brock Boyko who replaced Jayden Duchesne half way through the game, saw his first action at 9:16 and came up with a great save on a hard shot from the right wing.  The second period closed with Sebastien Tronchin weaving his way through the Sabre’s players and skating in on a breakaway, only to be denied by the left pad of the Sabre’s tender.

The third period started with the Sabres applying a bit more pressure.  At 1:30, Brock Boyko came up with a huge blocker save and deflected the puck into the corner.  After a short battle for the puck, the Stars forwards, lead by Noah Duggan were off to the races again.  At 1:57, Duggan was robbed of a goal as just when the puck was crossing the goal line, the net was dislodged, and the goal was not allowed.  Shortly after this, the Sabres began to apply pressure on the Stars in their own end and their efforts were rewarded.  With a Sabre’s forward stationed out in front of the net, a pass came from the right corner and the forward fired a wrist shot over Boyko’s right shoulder to tie the game up at 1 a-piece.  Boyko came up with 2 more critical saves at 3:00 and 3:40 to keep the score 1-1.  After the second save, the Stars made their way down the ice and Rees Kozar let a shot go from the right wing that narrowly missed the top left corner of the Sabre’s net.  Carson Allen got into the mix again with a nice shot from the right wing but was turned away by the Sabre’s net minder as well.  Gavin Meloche came up with a fine defensive play at 7:45 which prevented a sure scoring chance by the Sabres by playing big and separating the forward from the puck.  Brock Boyko came up with his final save of the game at 9:47 of the third with a nice stick save.  Then with the Stars applying the pressure in the Sabre’s zone again, Drew Booker who always seems to be in the right position, came very close to giving the Stars the lead at 10:26 when he fired a shot from right out in front of the net, but was not able to get the puck past the Sabre’s goalie.

A few players that were not mentioned above, but played a great game were, Layne Sinasac, Jake Orchard and Drake McGowan.  Layne quietly went about her business the entire game playing great defense and being a steady player at the blue line, holding the puck in on several occasions.  Jake Orchard, who doesn’t know anything but hustle, was all over the ice this evening, battling hard for pucks at both ends.  And Drake McGowan, who earned the “Hard Hat Award” this week, was an absolute force on every shift.  Drake battled hard, went after every loose puck and skated strong the entire game.  Great work Drake.

In the end, it was a total team effort at both ends of the ice which allowed the Stars to earn the 1-1 tie with the Sabres on this night.

This week’s feature player is Noah Duggan.  Noah is a fantastic player who has continues to get stronger and better every week.  Noah’s great skating and stick handling skills make him a major threat every time he steps onto the ice.