With a strong South-Bruce
Midget Local League team in town things looked tough for the Walkerton-Hanover
Vet Clinic LL Boys Midget team. But it was clear from the opening puck drop
that Walkerton was here to play. After near continuous end to end action South
Bruce struck first with a nifty goal by South Bruce’s Mitch
Illerbrunn, assisted by Jake Ireland. Before the period was out Walkerton
tied the game with a bang, bang play by Mike McAskill, after a great pass deep
in the zone by Jacob McKeeman who was able to pick up the puck after a strong
blue line stop from Liam Robertson.
The 2nd period saw scoring plays at both ends of the ice and stop after stop by Walkerton’s Seth Gauthier and South Bruce’s Andrew Thompson. But strong defense by the entire Walkerton team, with good fundamentals covering the defensive boards by the team wingers Calvin Wilson, Travis Maxwell, Jacob McKeeman, Cole Maxwell and Jacob Weber meant Walkerton could clear the puck and set up neutral zone transitions.
The back and forth play continued into the third with South Bruce knocking at the door time and time again. But strong defensive zone play by Liam Robertson, Austin Weber, J.P. Kunkel and Eric Shaeffer backed by outstanding goaltending by Seth Gauthier saw them stymied time and again. With Patrick McArthur and Connor Johnston setting the tone with checking in both ends, Walkerton was still in the game until things started to look bad with 2:50 remaining in the third. It seemed like time was running out when South Bruce’s Owen Schiestel scored a beaut of a goal, assisted by Tyler Spallek and Damon Sanford.
But then the fireworks began. With just 2 minutes left to play McKeeman picked up the puck from J.P. Kunkel and drilled one deep into the netting to tie the game. Such a strong goal and determination by Jacob McKeeman seemed to lift Walkerton’s spirit and energy as less than 19 seconds later they took the lead after a goal by Calvin Wilson, assisted by McKeeman. But Walkerton was not done yet. 31 seconds later Walkerton’s Mike McAskill netted an unassisted insurance goal (his second of the night). Then, with the clock ticking down, Calvin Wilson added an empty netter to cement the win. In total Walkerton scored a dramatic 4 goals in less than two minutes to come from behind and take the win.
This was a real character win for Walkerton and showed the value of strong hockey fundamentals with everyone playing their role strongly and with great determination.