Select 7 Stars Show Big Hearts in Game vs. Essex – Sunday February 19, 2012
Though the Amherstburg Select 7 Stars didn’t come out victorious in this game, they played a fantastic game and showed just how well they can play as a team.
Sebastien Tronchin got the game off to a quick start when he let a nice wrist shot go from the right wing that nearly got the Stars on the board early. At the other end of the ice, Jayden Duchesne came up with a nice glove save just 2:23 into the first as the Ravens were swarming dangerously in the Star’s zone. The Ravens continued to apply pressure and got the first goal of the game at 2:50. Just 20 seconds after this, Andrew Digiovanni made a great defensive play to clear the puck from the crease area to prevent the Ravens from taking a two goal lead. At 3:32, Rees Kozar fired a wrist shot from the right wing that just sailed over the cross bar. Then at 5:24 and 6:15, Duchesne came up with two more great saves with the help of Owen Beaudoin on the back check. The Ravens continued to apply pressure in the Star’s zone and were able to get another goal at 7:08 which Duchesne had no chance on. Just 26 seconds later, the Ravens scored another goal on a breakaway to take a 3-0 lead. The last two and half minutes of the first period had the Stars applying a lot of pressure in the Raven’s end of the ice, but were not able to get a quality scoring chance.
The Stars picked up in the second period right where they left off in the first, applying good pressure in the Raven’s end. Then as the play started to turn towards the Star’s end, Andrew Digiovanni made another fine defensive play which lead to Carson Allen feeding a beautiful pass to Drew Booker who raced into the Raven’s zone and got off a nice back hand shot on net. Though Booker did not score on that shot, he would make up for it just 30 seconds later when he fired home a blistering wrist shot from the left wing that found the top right corner of the net, cutting the lead to 3-1. Then at 2:28 seconds, Sebastien Tronchin notched another one for the Stars after Noah Duggan worked his magic along the boards to get the puck away from two Ravens players. This cut the lead to 3-2. Colin Cote then showed he could play some defense as well as he stopped a nice centering attempt by the Raven’s forward and prevented a quality scoring chance. Half way through the second, the Ravens were buzzing again in the Star’s zone and Duchesne had to be sharp as he made two more nice saves. The first at 5:06 with the right pad and the next at 5:55 with his stick. But the Ravens continued to apply pressure and were able to get one past Duchesne at 6:42 to restore a 2-goal lead. Immediately after this goal, the forward combination of Orchard, Duggan and Tronchin combined for 4 shots on net within 20 seconds, but were not able to get one past the Raven’s net minder. Then as the second period wound down, the combination of Booker, Kozar and Allen came up with a beautiful play which saw Booker pass to Kozar who passed to Allen who got off a nice shot on net, but was unable to score.
To start off the third, Drew Booker again got off a nice back hand shot just 46 seconds in but was not able to squeak it by. Then after a bit of back and forth play, Brock Boyko saw his first action of the game when he came up with two nice saves at 3:08 and then another right pad save at 4:42. Then as the Stars gathered the puck, Owen Beaudoin broke out of the zone and headed in on a breakaway and narrowly missed a goal as he fired a nice shot between the pads of the Raven’s goalie who made a great save on the play. But the Stars would not give up. Rees Kozar got the Stars within one as he buried a nice wrap around shot at 6:14 making it 4-3 Ravens. This was as close as the Stars would get even though the entire team played a great game at both ends of the ice. 7-3 final.
Layne Sinasac earned the hard hat award for the hardest working player as she made a number of great plays at both ends of the ice as did the remainder of the defensive players consisting of Kieran Thrasher, Cameron Sinasac, Gavin Meloche, Andrew Digiovanni and Alexandra Seagris. And though he wasn’t on defense this game, Hayden Bondy made his presence known at both ends of the ice with his hard work and quick feet.
A congratulation goes out to the entire team as they played a complete game and showed tremendous heart in battling back from a 3-0 deficit against a string team from Essex.
This week’s feature player is Gavin Meloche. Though Gavin isn’t the biggest player on the ice, that doesn’t stop him from making great defensive plays and preventing numerous scoring chances by the opposition. Also, Gavin shows tremendous poise at the blue line as he continually stops clearing attempts and gets the puck in deep for his forwards. Keep up the great work Gavin.
Name – Gavin Meloche
Position – Defense
Shoots - Left
Favorite Team – Detroit Red Wings
Favorite Player – Pavel Datysuk
Favorite Food – Pizza
Favorite Part of Hockey – Playing Hard
Favorite Part of Today’s Game – That We All Worked Hard As A Team
Future Ambition – Police Officer
