The Walkom's Valu-Mart Atom Rep's had a great weekend of hockey - meeting up with rivals Kincardine Kinucks in first round play-offs. Past games have shown the Meteors to fall short to the Kinucks, by only a one goal difference each time. The boys may have been in a slump the past few weeks, but they came ready to play this weekend, and totally redeemed themselves when it counted.
Game 1 in Kincardine brought the boys out firing. Strong defense firing shots from the blue line and rushing the puck and offensive back checking and passing - Kincardine didn't stand a chance. Perserverance paid off for the boys when Braden Hoegy (assisted by Ethan Jarmuth) deked and dangled from the blue paint into the opposing end to fire a beauty goal through the 5-hole. Meteors kept coming on strong and closed the first period 1-0. The pressure was on Kincardine throughout the second. Mitchell's defensive lines (Cohen Ahrens, Elijah Bender, Jonah Gibbings and Hoegy) were pinching the blue line and standing strong. Carter Miller made some great saves in net, backing his team as he always does. Ten seconds into the third period and Charlie Wolfe goes bar down, assisted by Bryce Dixon for a 2-0 lead. Penalty killing was no issue for the boys, making it look easy out there. Ryan Glauser made a couple great plays and helped set up his team mates. Black and yellow were all over Kincardine in a game well played. Mitchell takes game one 2-0. Carter Miller earned a well-deserved shut out.
Game 2 the teams faced off on home ice. Much like the first game, the Meteors came out strong. Hoegy got the ball rolling when he picked up a pass from Ryan Klumper and fired it from the blue line to the net, where Klumper was waiting out front for a beautiful tip-in (practice pays off and I'm sure the coaches were proud). Meteors take a 1-0 lead. Kincardine fired back and managed to sneak one in with only 9 seconds left in the first for a 1-1 tie. Hoegy again from the point fired one to the net where Charlie Wolfe got a piece of it and then Ethan Jarmuth secured the goal for a 2-1 lead. Third period the boys were still up on Kincardine. His second goal of the game, Jarmuth went full tilt and managed to beat everyone down the ice to the puck, and fired a beautiful goal top corner - Kincardine's goalkeep didn't see that one coming. Mitchell was laying it on strong - it was the home team's game. Logan Verberne had a couple great rushes up the ice and intercepted the puck from Kincardine multiple times. Jarmuth for the hat trick, fired the puck from nearly behind the net and snuck it past the goalkeep for a 4-1 lead. The boys were playing as a team - passing, covering for each other, reading the plays. It was fun to watch. Kincardine managed a power-play goal to close the gap to 2, but Ryan Klumper was persistent, rebound after rebound, and managed to tip one in for a 5-2 lead and final score.
Coach Mike Jarmuth called it - these boys played the best hockey to date!