The Dodge Caravan AE Novices pulled out all the stops and
split a pair of high-intensity, action packed thrillers this past weekend.
Saturday morning, in a hard fought 4-2 loss, the Meteors faced off against Central Perth in Monkton. With intense action on both ends of the rink, Ryan Glauser stole the puck from deep in Mitchell's end, passing to Ryan Klumper who dieked and split the defensemen, as he fired a rocket in off the crossbar for Mitchell’s first goal of the game. Keagan Meinen faced several hard shots from Central Perth that would keep him working both sides of his net, but before the period would end, Central Perth would sneak two quick goals in to go up 2-1.
The second period started with a Mitchell penalty, however the Meteors did an outstanding job of keeping the pressure on Central Perth as the play was all in their end. From behind the net, Jacob Dietrich passed out front to Max Hannon however, he was unable to find the back of the net. Central Perth would add an additional point on the scoreboard with a goal to the top right corner at 4:50. Mitchell would have a power play opportunity before the period was over and Ethan Jarmuth and Wade Campbell were relentless with their shots on net, but Central Perth's net minder held strong between the pipes.
At 8:16 in the third period, Campbell found the back of the net when he sniped a goal to the top left corner, with the assists going to Hannon and Jarmuth to bring the score within one. Jack Van Loon and Bradley Dearing would stand tall on the blue line by keeping the puck out of the defensive zone and inside Central Perth's end to keep the pressure going. In the final 45 seconds of the game, the Meteors pulled their goalie in an attempt to split the game in a tie, however the puck was stolen in the neutral zone, and Central Perth scored the final goal of the game with just 9.7 remaining.
Then on Sunday afternoon, the Zurich Thunder came to town in a game that held the Meteors home crowd on the edge of their seats. Mitchell pushed Zurich deep into their own end, and were relentless with their shots on net, but it wasn't until the second period that Max Hannon picked up a pass from Wade Campbell from behind the net to hammer in the first goal of the game. Zurich would try to retaliate, but thanks to the quick feet of Jacob Dietrich & Elijah Bender on defence, they were unable to tie the game up. A penalty for Mitchell at 13:22 in the third, kept Keagan standing on his head to protect the net. Braden Hoegy and Logan Verberne did an outstanding job of carrying the puck into Zurich's end, however, Zurich would find an opening just inside the blue line, to tie the game up at 11:11. With 4:33 remaining, Payton Wood picked up a loose puck along the boards, and sent a shot in to the net to give Mitchell the go-ahead goal. Zurich had an extra man advantage in the last 40 seconds of the game, but the Meteors pulled together to hold them off. The final score was 2-1 as Mitchell notched another win in a game that was as exciting to play, as it was for the fans to watch!