Jan 13, 2010 | tzettel | 767 views
Legion Peewees Start Playoffs With a Win
The Legion Peewee rep team started the playoffs with an exciting 1-0 victory over rival Mitchell Meteors at home Wednesday night. Short one defenseman due to Kurt Biesenthal's sprained ankle, coach Pat Donnelly dropped the versatile Bailey Zettler back to bolster the defense, going with 2 centres (Tyson MacLennan and Justin Donnelly) and 3 pairs of wingers (Matt Lang with Isaac Elliott, Ryan Young with Tyler Goetz and Lucas Bester with Kyle "Digger" Paulitzki).
Despite dominating the play - Walkerton out-shot Mitchell 30-13 - the Legion squad was held scoreless through the first two periods. Penalty trouble plagued the home squad in the second, as they successfully killed 4 penalties to Mitchell's 1. Near the end of the second with Brayden Davidson in the box for tripping, defenseman Luke Zettel was called for hooking, but Walkerton came up big, killing off a 5-on-3 to end the period.
With 4:26 remaining in the third, the game was still scoreless when Mitchell took a key penalty to put Walkerton on the power play. It was Donnelly who finally solved the Mitchell goalie on a feed from MacLennan behind the net. Walkerton threatened to go up two as a lead pass from Zettel set up Young on a breakaway, but the Mitchell netminder came up big to keep the game close. With 2:13 on the clock, MacLennan landed in the penalty box to set up an exciting finish. Mitchell pulled the goalie to go 6-on-4, but goalie Ryan Bester made some key saves to put the game away for a 1-0 shutout victory.
Spectator and hockey maven Jeff Davidson commented that Walkerton played a great team game, passing, positioning and anticipating well for a good, coordinated attack. Coach Donnelly's work seems to be paying off. Walkerton travels to Mitchell Friday night to continue the series.