Special to the RTT
On the heels of a 1-0 loss to the Fort Erie Meteors Saturday evening
in the first game of the OMHA finals, the Amherstburg Stars novice team
knew they had to step up in the second game.
The Stars rebounded nicely and won a convincing 6-1 decision over
Fort Erie Sunday afternoon at the Libro Centre. The win evens the
six-point series at two points apiece heading into Games 3 and 4 in Fort
Erie this weekend.
Kyle Jones gave the Stars a 1-0 lead 6:05 into the first period with Matteo Rivas scoring just over a minute after that to give the home team a 2-0 lead after one period. Amherstburg put three more goals on the board in the second period as Brett Jones scored 4:27 into the period with John Lopez and Kyle Jones again scoring at 5:34 and 9:10 respectively.
A powerplay goal by Rivas gave the Stars a 6-0 lead just 2:12 into the second period with Fort Erie’s goal coming just over two minutes later, the latter being the only puck to elude Stars’ goaltender Layton Windibank.
“We probably had the same number of shots on net today as we did yesterday but we actually put the puck in the net,” said Amherstburg head coach Shaun Cote. “The kids played a complete game today.”
Coming off of a loss in Game 1, Cote said rebounding in Game 2 was huge.
“It was very important to get the win today,” he said, noting they now go to Fort Erie even instead of being in a deep hole.
“We played our game today,” he added. “Yesterday, their goalie was red hot. We couldn’t get past that.”
Brett Jones and Windibank were pleased with their Game 2 performance.
“I’m happy. It was awesome,” said Jones. “Yesterday, we couldn’t put the puck in the net and we didn’t play as good.”
Windibank was happy to see the goals go in on the other end, believing it made his job easier in the Amherstburg cage. Both boys said they have a lot of momentum heading into Saturday’s Game 3 in Fort Erie.