November 6, 2011
The Mattawa Voyageurs earned a split on the weekend as they beat the Toronto Canada Moose on Friday night before losing on Saturday night in Sturgeon Falls.
On Friday Night against the Toronto Moose, our Voyageurs would ensure that they would not loose for a second straight game against them. Cody Lacelle scored early for the Voyageurs and put them in control of the game early on. The score would remain 1-0 for the entire period however the Voyageurs dominated in every aspect during the first 20 minutes.
The second period sealed the win for our Voyageurs with four more goals by Gdanski, King, Larriviere and Sinclair. The third period saw both teams go through the motions and the game ended in a 5-0 victory for our home town Voyageurs.
On Saturday night, we travelled to Sturgeon Falls to take on the GMHL's second place team in what was probably the most exciting game of the year to watch thus far. The Lumberjacks took a 1-0 lead at the halfway mark when Rompowski slipped the puck past netminder Ritchie Wigmore. This lead would hang on until the mid point of the second period when the Lumberjacks Alex Grose scored to make it 2-0. Approximately 5 minutes later Daniel Gerrits scored from a point shot on the power play to make it 2-1. Minutes later it was tied at 2 a piece on another power play goal deflection by Cody Lacelle.
In the third period there was a flury of shots from both sides and both goaltenders were outstanding. The Lumberjacks regained their lead at 16:37 on Rompkoski's second goal of the game and then made it 4-2 minutes later on a shorthanded goal by Hanson. Mattawa fought back and 10 seconds later scored a power play goal from point man Cheyenne King. Minutes later with 7:02 remaining Alex Fleming scored to even it up at 4 when Lumberjacks goalie Claude Lotcher caught and then dropped the puck to the side of the net unknowingly that our Voyageur player was there for the wrap around.
The two teams battled hard for the next 5 minutes when the Lumberjacks got a lucky break after the puck ringed off the Lumberjacks post to only bounce back away from the play and have their player bring it up the ice to have the Voyageurs scramble to get back into position. It was however this misfortune which sealed a win for the Lumberjacks as they got control of the puck deep in the Voyageurs zone and fired a flury of shots to evenually score the game winner on a shot by Tamminin with only 2:57 remaining in the game. The Voyageurs pulled their goalie with less than a minute to go to once again miss a golden opportunity at the Lumberjacks end and to have them clear the puck for an empty netter with 9 seconds remaining. It was a 6-4 win for the Lumberjacks, however the Voyageurs made it loud and clear that they will be a force to deal with in the very near future for any team that tries to go up against them.
Shots on goal were 47 to 40 in favour of the Lumberjacks.
The next home game is Friday November 11th 2011 as our hometown Voyageurs take on the Shelbourne Red wings. Game is slated to start at 8:15pm.