The Mitchell Collision Center Atom LL's started their round robin playoffs this weekend with two games on the road and came away with one win and one loss! Excellent effort everyone!
First up was Lucknow on Saturday and the Meteors quickly realized that there would be no more easy games from here on in. Both teams came out battling very hard. The game was quite close and remained scoreless for the first two periods. Mitchell would finally get a goal midway through the third period when Bentley Phillips picked up the rebound in front of the net and backhanded it in. Payton Wood and Grayson Yost assisted on the goal. Brandon Dietrich scored a nice goal soon after, weaving his way in from the blue line and burying it like he has so many times this season for the Meteors. Ethan Dearing picked up an assist. This provided a little breathing room and the boys hung on for a 2-0 win! Goalie Keagan Meinen got the shutout victory!
The Atom LLs then traveled to Goderich on Sunday for a game with the Sailors. Mitchell would find themselves down early in this game as Goderich scored just two minutes in. Still in the first, Mitchell would even the score with a goal from Jacob Dietrich as he pushed it past the goalie amid a scramble in front of the net. Wade Campbell was credited with a helper. The game would go to the second tied 1-1. In the second period the teams would trade chances and Keagan Meinen made some nice saves to keep the Meteors in it. The Meteors had some near misses but the puck did not seem to be bouncing in their favour. And Goderich was definitely not making it easy as they seemed to shut down plays before Mitchell could get anything going. Goderich would score twice to open the third period and that would be all she wrote. They sailed from there to the 3-1 victory, handing Mitchell their first loss of the season!
Jack Van Loon said after the game that he felt that maybe the team needed to lose so they would come back more prepared for the tough competition in the playoffs. I'm sure that he was right about one thing. Next game they will be ready!