Boys try to tackle tough tender, tripped up by Vineland

It was a good exciting, hockey game for the fans. Close from the start, with lots of shots by both sides. The Titans were handcuffed by a good keeper and their own mistakes this afternoon. Vineland made the long trip north and was ready to play. While we were smaller, we were a step faster. We had the chance to be more aggressive as well.

More experienced teams would have taken it to them. We did not detect their uncertainty. We took far more shots than they did in the first period. But we did not finish. We did not put the puck in the net early, and we did not complete our checks. Several odd man rushes were stopped by ‘offsides’ and others by poor coordination entering the zone. AJ started in net and had a perfect first. 0-0 after 1. Give credit to their keeper. He stopped Richie and Billy on break-aways, along with 13 other shots. He had very good lateral movement in the crease, and froze the puck often.

Finally at the 14:37 mark of the second, they caught a break. We were advancing the puck and got caught with 5 moving forward as they picked up an errant pass near center ice. A nice move put it by AJ. 1-0 and near time for the switch. Chris picked up goal duty 7 minutes later, and he rode out the period.

We were to get our chance late in the period. They took a penaly and then when we pressured, pushed in front of their goalie after the whistle. We had a 5-3 advantage. Billy, who took a pass from Richie and Timmy, picked up his head, and saw the goalie drop. He lifted it up. Clank. Crossbar…. but it hit the sweet bottom third of the crossbar, so it fell in. 1-1 game 5:43 to go in the second. We thought for sure the now 5-4 powerplay which still had more to run would produce another one. But the Patriots kept a good 4 man box and rejected the Titans. The period would end all knotted up. They killed again used the break to stifle our momentum and somehow took control for the next few minutes.

Celebrating Billy’s goal

Small breakdowns in a close game become big ones. They danced in as 2 defenders used sticks more than bodies, and wingers did not get back to the dots, leaving Chris helpless. They rocketed one off his pads, with no white shirts near the rebound and just like that 2-1 Patriots.

 

We did too little of this

Very quickly they came back again. With a defender in tow, a Patriot took a stab from the left side. Chris came out to poke it. He lay prone and extended too far, and the puck went right back to the Patriot with Chris far from home. With our defender hanging on him the Patriot pushed a slow pass from below the goal line. It hit Chris’ leg pad and just trickled in. An impossible goal and a 3-1 deficit with 10 minutes still to go.

Ryan tries a rush that would be stifled

We penetrated well but were our own worst enemy. A few shots over the net, a few more off sides rushes, and good Vineland defense kept us out of the net. They added one more, and then we finally scored with 42 seconds to play. It was a pretty one as Billy took a Richie shot behind the net, passed it to Dave on the weak side post for a 4-2 game. We pulled the goalie, but too late to make a difference. It could have been a different outcome, but hats off to the Patriot goalie and their players. They were the better team today.