Dec 29, 2019 | Gerald McNaughton | 74 views
Game 11 vs. Arran-Elderslie Ice Dogs
The Walkerton Capitals would host the Arran-Elderslie Ice Dogs on December 8th, 2019. This might have been the game of the year as both teams kept the action going from the opening faceoff until the final buzzer, and what happened in between kept the crowd on the edge of their seats throughout.
The first period would see the Ice Dogs come out quickly and pepper the Walkerton net with shots from almost every angle. Walkerton net-minder, Ryan Hinsperger, would be tested with many great shots but he was equal to the task. At the other end of the rink the Arran-Elderslie goalie would only be tested with a few shots as the Ice Dogs defence was stellar in not allowing players to cross their blue line with any consistency. At the end of the first period there would be no scoring.
The second period would see the Ice Dogs continue their puck dominance and be rewarded because of it. Arran-Elderslie would open the scoring while on the power play after the puck was fired into the net after a goalmouth scramble. The Ice Dogs would score twice more in the period with both goals coming as Walkerton players were coming out of the penalty box but were unable to join the play in the Walkerton zone. The Capitals would trial 3-0 after two periods of play.
Que the comeback, the third period and the Capitals would come out flying as they hit the ice. Limited to only a handful of shots in the first two periods Walkerton would control much of the play in the Ice Dogs zone through the third. Some hard work behind the net would see Austin Cormack send the puck back to the point where Matthew McNaughton would then slide the puck to Jack Walter in the slot area whose low wrist shot found the back of the net with 12:18 remaining while on the power play. The Capitals would continue to press and would again be rewarded minutes later when Landon Young cycled the puck to Cayleb Peitz behind the net who then skated out front and passed the puck to Joshua Flood at the side of the net who went five hole on the Ice Dogs netminder to pull the Capitals within one. The Capitals would tie the game after Cayleb Peitz made an end to end rush and fired a shot that squeaked between the goalie and the post and trickled over the line with 4:47 remaining. With time winding down the Capitals would kill a late penalty with some great defensive play. Arran-Elderslie would then take a last penalty to put the Capitals on their own power play. Jacob Girdler would fire a hard pass to Tyler Wallace who would then put the puck right on the tape of Cayleb Peitz who would go in a lone on the goaltender and slide his own rebound into an open corner with 0.04 seconds remaining for the win.
The Capitals would earn a hard fought victory with this come from behind win. The boys never gave up and pulled together as a team to hand Arran-Elderslie its first loss of the season.