Schedule & Results, Bantam AE, U15, 2011-2012 (Petrolia Minor Hockey)

In the final game of the round robin Petrolia travelled to Thamesford on a foggy evening to play a late game.  The situation was simple, win or tie and the Oilers move to the B final vs Mooretown.  Lose and they go up to the A pool and play a round robin vs St Thomas and Mt Brydges.  2 of those 3  teams advancing to the A final.

Petrolia came out strong and took an early lead just minutes into the 1st period.  This lead would be their last and would be short lived as minutes later the Attack slipped a puck through netminder Cameron MacAlpine.  The Attack played a more physical style of play than what the Oilers brought and this impacted the flow of the game as the Attack had many scoring chances.  Thamesford scored another goal before the end of the second period ended.

In the second period the Attack scored twice more and Petrolia scored once on a good shift by Alex Mayhead, Spencer Burden and Nick Freisen.  Going into the break the Oilers were down 4-2.

Thamesford had the sense of urgency to their play as players took direct paths to open pucks, won a lot of battles for pucks, were very difficult to knock off the control of the puck and were the more physical team.Petrolia came out with a 5-3 power play and had some great chances to get right back in the game but could not find the net.  Petrolia did score making the game a one goal affair mid way throught the frame and from that point on the Oilers took the game to the Attack.  The Oilers had a wild number of scoring chances in the final 5 minutes of play with Alex Mayhead ringing a puck off the post but not finding the back of the net.  This night the Oilers came up a little short and missed their opportunity to move to the League B final.This loss put St Marys out of the playoffs, Thamesford into the B final vs Mooretown and Petrolia in a round robin with St Thomas and Mt Brydges for the A final.

Petrolia will have to play their best hockey for every shift of a complete game to play with both of these next opponents to move onto the A final. 

For a team that started the year with a long stretch of losses and has struggled to win very often in tournament play, but has turned things around in the second half of the season by climbing in the overall standings, getting to the second round of the OMHA playdowns, and now getting to a round robin to play for league A champion is quite a feat.  The players need to keep their heads high regardless the outcome of the next few games as they have proven they can complete with any and all the teams in their league.

Great season guys and with the top efforts from everyone we can advance to the A final.  The sky is the limit when everyone works their hardest.