Oct 28, 2013 | novice | 889 views
NORSTAR BEARS SEEK THREE
The NorStar Novice Bears went into a three game stretch this past weekend matched up against The Huntsville Otters and a home at home series against the Collingwood Blackhawks.
The Otters slid into the Bracebridge barn Friday night wondering what the Bears would give them this time around. It was the 2nd meeting for the teams, the first being a tryout match up that brought the Bears a solid 6-2 win. That was then and this was now a completely new ball of wax. The Otters came out strong and showed the Bears that they would not be dominated. The first period doled out nadda in the scoring department. The 2nd period almost provided the same result until Guthrie opened up the floodgates with a cross ice pass from Ty Mac to go up 1-0. 3rd period was a complete turnaround when the Bears stepped their game up a few notches and took complete control. Guthrie went in for his 2nd stinger unassisted. Nathan Scott added some fuel to the fire when he took a pass from Thompson and Budney to make it 3-0. With 1:18 left in the 3rd the Downer/Thompson/Scott line had a sweet face off and a backhand pass from Scott to Downer for a shot and his own rebound to score and up the lead to 4. D Man Davis handled the face off with a centre ice shot with 19 seconds remaining in the game to trickle one past the Huntsville net minder to seal the deal at 5-0.
Saturday sent the Bears into Blackhawks territory in Collingwood. This was the first dance for the two teams both unsure of what to expect. The Blackhawks came out strong and opened up with a quick goal one minute into the first period. The Bears now knew they would have their work cut out for them. The rest of the first period remained scoreless with nothing but hard skating, gritty defense and on the puck action. The Bears were determined to get the equalizer and that they did. Mitchell Hammond took the puck up the boards and centered it over to Guthrie who pulled the trigger and sent the bullet top shelf past the hawks goalie. We were all square once again. Collingwood said "no way", and went ahead at the 8:34 mark of the 2nd period. Reece Thompson put on the jets and let one go to tie it up. This was a definite tug of war between two very evenly matched teams. Guthrie took a face off and blasted into the hawks zone with a snipe to make it 3-2 with just over 6 minutes left in the 2nd. Bring on the 3rd period! Thompson was "it" in the scoring game and took a pass from call up A/P Tyler Crockford to make it 4-2. The Bears looked to be in complete control. However, the Bears kept getting caught in their own end failing to clear it out of their zone and Collingwood answered back with 2 quick ones to tie it at 4. This looked like it was going to end in a tie when in the last minute Thompson achieved his hat trick with help from Ty Mac to allow the Bears to take the W back home and wait to see what Collingwood would bring on Sunday.
Sunday had the Hawks visiting BB and were undoubtedly ready to redeem themselves. They came out hard and ensured that they smothered each and every Bear that hit the ice. The Bears had to work extra hard, but Collingwood was not letting the Bears take the puck out of their end. Before you knew it the Bears were down 4-1 at the end of the first. Collingwood kept pressing and chasing the Bears everywhere making strong efforts to break down their D and keep them off their game. Guthrie chalked up another shorthanded, but Collingwood added a couple of more pushing the Bears to frustrating levels and the penalties came one after another. Again, the Bears struggled to keep it out of their own end but with some perseverance, Quesnelle grabbed the pass just short of the blue line and ripped one past the pipe man to bring the score to 6-4. Time ran out for the Bears and they couldn't fight their way closer and had to settle for the loss.
The three games once again were incredible to watch and exemplified a team that sure knows how to work together to rally back when necessary. GO BEARS GO!