Feb 07, 2014 | mholzel | 995 views
Midget Major Stars moving on after sweeping Rangers
Special to the RTT
As hockey games go, there are many ways to describe how your team plays.There are different scenarios such as a thrilling win or a lopsided win, a deserving tie or just a pretty win.That ugly win was just good enough for the midget major Stars to continue on their journey to a title as they completed a three-game sweep in their Bluewater League finals against the Riverside Rangers.
Last Thursday night at the WFCU Centre, goaltender Daniel Tonietto turned away 14 Ranger shots en route to his first shutout of the playdowns, a convincing 4-0 victory.After a scoreless opening period, it was only eight ticks off the ticker when Cory Burns feathered a pass to a streaking Noah Renaud and the Stars were first on the board.The Stars would put this game to bed with a trio of red lights only 61 seconds apart. Jacob D’Amico simply walked in off a faceoff and picked the top corner to get things rolling.A pretty passing combination from Michael Ciccone to Garett Meloche over to a wide-open Anthony Cristofaro gave the Stars a 3-0 advantage. It took only 14 seconds before a laser shot off the blade of Marshal Laing gave the Stars their second four-goal period in the series.In the third period, Tonietto preserved his shutout with a huge blocker save with just over ten minutes remaining and the Stars settled for a 4-0 win.In Saturday’s game with Thomas Demarco in net for the Stars at home, it was once again the Stars lighting the lamp first as centre Colin Leardi fed winger Robbie Lavoie down low. Lavoie would jam home the opening goal only six minutes in.After taking the lead, the Stars played very uninspired hockey for the next 25 minutes and the Rangers took full advantage of the free giveaways the Stars were handing out and took a 3-1 lead early in the final period.With 11 minutes remaining, the Stars started to show some life as Mitch Holden and Renaud set up Burns and his shot from a scramble out front was declared good and the Stars were only down by one.Only two minutes later, a 90-foot pass from defenseman Zak Parlette to Ryan Holzel led to Holzel’s snipe tickling the top bar and tied the contest a 3-3.Late in the third period, the Stars would complete the “ugly” comeback as a dump-in by Dean Patterson was scooped up by Lavoie and his perfect pass to Leardi sent high fives all along the Stars’ bench for a 4-3 win.After the game and the sweep, coach Glen Holden said, “wow, we were different teams in the last two games. We dominated them on Thursday and came home and played that ‘not fun to watch’ hockey. It’s not the time to take periods off like we did tonight. We have to compete at a much higher level because every team we see from now on is going to be really good.”Check the Amherstburg Minor Hockey Association website (www.amherstburghockey.com) for dates and times for the midget majors upcoming games.