After 60 minutes of play it only took 50 seconds of bad bounces for the Lac La Biche Midget Clippers to have the win slip away on Saturday night.
After 60 minutes of play it only took 50 seconds of bad bounces for the Lac La Biche Midget Clippers to have the win slip away on Saturday night.
The Clippers fell to the Athabasca Hawks 6-3 after a brief lapse late in the third period, resulting in the Hawks to net themselves three goals in a row.
Although the final score can be deceiving the Clippers were shutting down the Hawks with their newly implemented 2-1-2 forecheck for a majority of the game.
“We changed our system today and everybody was thinking and co-operating they, and they were going along with the program,” said Clippers assistant coach Trimble. “We were really happy with that, but the loss and to give up those late goals, it’ s not a good thing, but we’ ll live with it.”
“We told them after the game you know, ‘don’ t hang your head, you can be proud of the way you played,’ ” added head coach Bill Abougoush.
The Clippers game plan was simple keep Athabasca to the outside of the defensive zone and protect the front of the net. Said as season as the squad was doing that Athabasca was having a difficult time getting their offence going.
The plan was working great in the first period. The heavy forechecking resulted in an early goal for the team after Noah Flynn scored at the 17:49 mark. Athabasca However would end up striking twice before the period closed giving the Hawks a 2-1 lead.
The Clippers didn’ t let up, maintaining a majority of the puck possession throughout the second period. The hard work eventually paid off with Mason Ducharme scoring back-to-back goals giving the Clippers a 3-2 lead going into the third.
The Clippers continued their successful defensive efforts, holding onto their one goal lead while generating some offensive chances. However, between the 6:14 and 5:24 the Hawks had capitalized on three straight opportunities to give them a 5-3 lead. The Hawks would later get an empty net goal within the final two minutes of play.
“It was working we were getting our chances and there goal made a few stops there we just had a little lapse in the third there,” Trimble said. “The puck just bounced for them for a minute and a half there.”
