Feb 08, 2015 | khussey | 755 views
Hornets Buzzing Just In Time For Playoffs
Three wins in the final week of the regular season have the Midget Hornets on a high heading into the post season.
A gritty 4-2 win over the Milverton Drives Monday night was followed by a convincing 7-1 victory Over Kincardine on Thursday. Kyle Dickert led the charge with four goals and an assist. Big games were also had by Dustin Robertson (goal and two assists), Cole Miller (two goals), and Tristan Brears (two assists). Rounding out the scoring was Kenzie Brooks and Matt Schraa, with an assist each.
This led to a show down Sunday night against South Bruce. South Bruce held a one point lead in the standings over the Hornets. A win would bump Howick over top of South Bruce and Saugeen Shores for fourth place in the standings. Despite two convincing wins by the Hornets over South Bruce in the past few weeks, this game would come down to the final few minutes.
Howick came out strong in the opening period. Despite a multitude of shots they were unable to put anything on the board in the opening two periods. The same could be said for South Bruce, as good defending and solid goaltending by Blake Fraser kept the match knotted 0-0.
The desire to win was felt by both squads heading into the final frame. The Hornets drew first blood as Dickert and Robertson cycled the puck back to Brears at the point. His slap shot screamed past the goaltender to put his squad up 1-0. The lead would be short lived, however, as South Bruce would draw even just over a minute later.
Penalties would dominate much of the remainder of the game. Both sides found themselves with time on the power play as well as time on the penalty kill. Brears found himself on a short handed breakaway. His shot beat the goalie but rang off the post, keeping the game knotted.
It was on one Hornet power play that Evan Fraser would see his opportunity. The defenseman picked up the puck behind his own net and charged up the ice. He carved his way through the defense and found himself in alone against the goaltender. A quick move left him with a hole the shoot at and he made no mistake, giving Howick the lead with just over four minutes left.
South Bruce pressed for the equalizer. They pulled their goalie with just over a minute left. Graham Devlin picked off a pass at the blue line and slid the puck into the vacated net to give the Hornets some insurance. As the seconds ticked down, Howick found themselves with one last opportunity. Robertson and Brears forced a turnover at their blue line and headed up ice on a two on none. Brears deployed his 'wafting butterfly' to stay in the path of all the back checkers and allowed Robertson to break away. A slick move to the backhand gave plenty of space to knock home the goal that killed any chances of a comeback. An excellent effort allowed the Hornets to leap frog over South Bruce, ending the regular season in fourth place in their grouping with a 9-10-1 record.