CMR Bantam LL went up against the other Walkerton team twice to start this seasons playoffs. The two evenly matched teams provided extraordinary exciting hockey for their fans.
In game 1, Chase Louther assisted by Justin Sargeant started the scoring for CMR. The second period was left scoreless with fierce play by both teams. At the start of the 3rd, Josh Hamilton was fed by Cam Wagner and Matt Engel to make it 2-0. The other team, Power Workers Union (PWU) of Walkerton answered back 2 minutes later when Cory Paulitzki assisted by Connor Charette and Josh Konecny slid one past Hudson in net. Cam Wagner of CMR answered back with a shot fed to him by Tyler Petteplace and Josh Hamilton to make it 3 -1. With one minute of play and PWU pulling their goalie to strengthen their offence, defenceman Jacob Tilson of CMR got through and scored on an empty net to give the boys a 4-1 victory. Game 2 was identical in score, but PWU took the 4-1 victory over the CMR boys. The boys went head to head with hockey worthy of the Olympics; fast and furious, but CMR couldn’t get a break. The lone goal was scored by Chase Louther and assisted by Josh Hamilton. Jonah Hudson played a stellar game between the pipes for CMR, but goalie Jesse Lamont of PWU took the victory. The goal scorers for PWU were Mark Fisher (2), Cory Paulitzki and Mitchell Eckert and assists by Cole Stark, Matt McArthur and Connor Charette.
The CMR team was eager to increase their standings of Round robin play and came out against Bruce Peninsula with a vengeance. Bruce Peninsula was able to sneak one past the defence in the first, but the boys were not going to finish out the first period scoreless. 1 minute of play left in the first, Dylan Murray with Curtis Davidson put the team on the board. Both teams fought through the 2nd with Darren Paulitzki assisted by Mark Wilken put the boys ahead. 2-1. The short break did them good, Josh Hamilton and Cam Wagner got off goals right away, but the Bruce boys answered back making it 4-2. Josh Hamilton got another shot off making it 5-2. The Bruce again in the last minute of play scored, but not to be outdone. Chase Louther in the last 10 sec of play , lifted the puck past the Bruce players into the empty net, giving us a 6-3 victory. The boys travelled 2 days later to Wiarton in a game that was very tense. Both teams wanting the win, but Walkerton was victorious with a 5-1 win. No game sheet was obtained, but the goals were scored by Cam Wagner (2), Josh Hamilton, Matt Engel and Dylan Murray. The whole team played great and were all worthy of assists.
Creeping up in the standings, the 5th game in the series was important. With a match up against Normanby; a very aggressive team throughout the whole season, the boys held their ground. Once again, Walkerton proved to be worthy opponents and shut them down 3-0, earning goaltender Jonah Hudson a shut out in the playoffs. All three of the Walkerton goals were scored in the 1st period. Dylan Murray assisted by Matt Engel got off the first goal. Chase Louther within the last minute of played scored the next 2 goals. Only 32 seconds between each shot and the last shot had been assisted by Curtis Davidson. There are 3 games left in this series of play and you can bet it will be exciting hockey to watch. Way to go and Good luck boys!!!