Feb 22, 2014 | lmailloux | 710 views
Oilers Eliminated Following 1 to 0 Loss
The Oilers were officially eliminated from OMHA playdowns on Friday night falling to arch rival Mt Brydges Cougars 1 to 0 and losing the 6pt series 6 points to 1. All games were close and decided by 2 goals or less and involved pulling the goalie for the extra attacker in 3 of 4 games.
The Oilers knew it was do or die again tonight and came out with a lot of energy and matched the Cougars stride for stride. Scoreless through two periods, the Oilers did a better job getting the pucks out of their own end but couldn't penetrate the Mt. Brydges zone with much speed or enough puck control to get pucks to the net. Mt Brydges has a solid goalie and defense and we couldn't get enough quality chances on this night.
The Cougars only goal came in the third period when it seemed everybody in green and white was falling down at the wrong time. Two forwards got tangled up with each other, a dman fell down leaving Mt Brydges with a 3 on 1. A valiant effort by Will Hull to break up the pass went for not as the trailing player picked up the loose puck and hit the open net passed a sprawled Kent Gudz.
Gudz made several saves including a tough blocker save that kept the deficit at 1 goal.
A powerplay, timeout, and a pulled goalie afforded the Oilers some good chances but could not find the net. One last chance came on the face-off with 2.4 seconds when the puck got to the net but just grazed off the goalie's glove as time expired.
It was a great team effort by all players and was fun to play in front of a big crowd. The Oilers now prepare for Shamrock league playoffs which will start next week and run through to the end of March.
Reid King was selected as Team Hard hat recipient for his hard work all game.