KnightHawks Win Wild Semifinal in Overtime, News, HL - Minor Atom - 13, 2017-2018, CHL Atom (West London Minor Hockey)

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Mar 31, 2018 | GeoffRead | 733 views
KnightHawks Win Wild Semifinal in Overtime
The KnightHawks faced a team with which they've built a good, friendly rivalry on Saturday in the semifinals, the Bandits #33. And just like in their last match, this one went down to the wire as the KnightHawks squeaked out a 3-2 win on an overtime goal by "Velvet Hands" Owen Askew.

This game was tense for the KnightHawks and their fans. The KnightHawks played a solid team game and largely carried the play generating a number of good chances right off the first shift as centre James "the Flame" Nielsen and wingers Kayden "the Little Ball of Hate" Keating and Velvet Hands Askew hemmed the Bandits in their end with a strong forecheck.

This set the tone for the first frame as the KnightHawks kept the pressure up. The defence had an especially strong game holding the puck in at the blueline. Paul "the Man of" Steele, in particular, has figured out when to pinch down hard on the boards and when to play it safe by backing up. This was a major asset to his team as the Man of Steele and the rest of the defensive corps of Greg "the Impaler" Nicolis, Anderson "Hot Shot" Watt, Aiden "the Blaze" Hayes, and Brandon "I Would Skate 500" Miles were playing with energy and making life hard on the Bandits.

And eventually, the KnightHawks' hard work was rewarded.

In the dying minute of the first period Zoe "Showtime" Read carried the puck into the right corner, pulled the puck to her forehand and fired it on net. The puck hit the side of the net, but Jumpin' Jack Peterkin pounced on the rebound and stuffed it between the Bandits' goalie's legs for the first goal of the game. The crowd went wild.

The KnightHawks continued to carry the play after that. Showtime Read, Jumpin' Jack , the Flame, and "Slice and Dice" Troy Price all had complete or partial breakaways, for example, but none was able to bury the puck. Their two goalies were equally excellent at taking away the bottom of the net and making it difficult for the shooters to get pucks in along the ice.

Which left the door open for the Bandits, a team that had proven exactly a week earlier to be opportunistic in such situations as they had stormed back from a 3-0 KnightHawks' lead to tie a round-robin game. The mood going into the third period was tense.

And with good reason. Showtime and Slice and Dice both had chances to put the KnigthHawks up by two early in the frame, but neither succeeded. Then, with 2:03 left on the clock, #4 for the Bandits, a crafty little centreman, put a hot shot on net that goaltender "Smooth Sailin'" Kaelen Walsh got a piece of his blocker on, but the puck popped loose right in the crease to Smooth Sailin's right. #14 on the Bandits tapped it in for an easy game-tying goal. 

So despite the fairly large advantage in play the KnightHawks had enjoyed in the game, they were tied with just over two minutes to go.

And the Bandits weren't done. With 1:02 left #6 scored off a nearly identical play when #7 fired the puck on net, as the KnightHawks were guilty of running around in their end a bit and the Bandits took advantage.

But the Smilin' Irish Buddha, Coach Liam Walsh, had a few tricks left up his sleeves. He pulled his goalie and put Nielsen over the boards. Hot Shot Watt then got a play started that found its way to Connor the Scottish Devil Devlin, who chipped it into the middle to Nielsen. Nielsen cut hard across the high slot from left to right and threw a desperation backhand on net with just 24 seconds to go. 

It was as if the puck had eyes, as it eluded the outstretched leg of the Bandits' goalie and caromed into the net off the far post.

So it was off to overtime. As in the NHL, the 10 minute overtime has moved to a 3 on 3 format this year, which gave everyone plenty of room to work out there. 

The generally quicker KnightHawks took advantage of this extra space to control possession of the puck and generate more chances than the Bandits. Still, Smooth Sailin' Kaelen had to be sharp on a couple of occasions.

Another noteworthy moment came about 5 minutes into the extra frame when "Grand Slam" Sam Schafer stripped a streaking Bandit of the puck in the neutral zone and then powered his way up the left side of the ice to get the puck in deep and out of harm's way for his team. Grand Slam Sam was stopped dead in his tracks just inside the blue line by a stiff check from a Bandit defender but his gritty play allowed Showtime Read to pick up the puck and drive the net nearly resulting in a goal.

Would this game head to a shootout, everyone was wondering?

Never fear KnightHawks' fans, for James the Flame Nielsen picked up the puck in the left corner and made a beautiful cross-ice feed to a perfectly positioned Velvet Hands Askew who one-timed it right on the net. Amazingly, the Bandits' goalie got post to post in time to block Askew's shot, but the puck slid back to the Flame in the corner who fed yet another perfect pass to Velvet Hands. This time, cool as a cucumber, Velvet Hands collected the puck, pulled it back in towards his body and ripped a wrist shot to the far side, which the hapless netminder had no chance on.

The KnightHawks won and advanced to the finals tomorrow at 10:45 at Kinsmen Arena. For his heroics scoring the tying goal and creating the chance that led to the game winner, the Flame took home player of the game honours.

The KnightHawks were full measure for the win but graciously saluted their Bandits opponents for their never-say-die effort. As the always quotable Grand Slam Sam remarked, "That's a helluva team over there - we got nothin' but respect for the guys and girls in that room." 

In other news, with her two minute minor for tripping in the game, which was actually the Blaze Hayes' penalty, Showtime Read put herself into contention for the Tiger Williams Award. She and the Scottish Devil are deadlocked at 4 minutes a-piece while the Impaler leads the way with an intimidating 6 minutes spent in the sin bin.

Let's see how all these storylines wrap up tomorrow.

Go KnightHawks go!

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