Nov 23, 2013 | mbell | 158 views
Strathroy game #4 Strathroy vs Petrolia
In the highly anticipated final round robin game of the tournament and the 1st meeting of the year between these clubs a trip to the B final was on the line.
Petrolia came out with determination in the 1st period and the effort paid off late in the period when Ian Wheatley blasted a low slapper off the right pad of the Rockets netminder, the rebound was kicked out and Nick Friesen was tied up by the Rockets defenseman, however D-man Ryan Bell who was quick to get up ice kept the puck in the offensive zone and snapped the puck home for the 1st goal of the game.
This game was a very tight checking game with both teams playing a good defensive effort.
Petrolia went into the flood between the 1st and 2nd period up 1-0.
The second period was more of the same with both sides getting numerous scoring chances. Ian Wheatley was sent in from the blue line on a breakaway but the Strathroy goalie was equal to the task and turned the scoring chance aside. The Rockets tied the game when they made a quality breakout getting by Dylan Krall and Ryan Bell was left to play a 3 on 1. The thing about the Strathroy club is it is an AE team and have a number of players that can really shoot the puck. On this 3-1 Ryan took away the passing option and tried not to screen netminder Kuipers. The Strathroy player took a very hard wrist shot into the top corner to even the game.
The score remained 1-1 well into the 3rd period.
In the 3rd period the Oilers started to run out of steam as they did not chase down the many loose pucks and found they were playing longer and longer in their own zone with Strathroy getting many quality scoring chances before finally finding the go ahead goal with roughly 7 minutes to play. Petrolia picked it up in the final minutes but simply ran out of time and was left wondering what could have been with more effort during the first 7 minutes of the 3rd period.
Strathroy added an empty net goal to round out the scoring 3-1 and move onto the B final.
The Oilers will be back in Strathroy Thursday night with renewed effort to set this series right.