Thunder upset in OT
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Overtime for the third straight home game was needed to decide a WOAA senior men’s hockey winner Saturday night in Tillsonburg, as the Tillsonburg Thunder faced off against the Milverton Four Wheel Drives.
Despite currently sitting in fourth place in the South Division, the end result was not what the Thunder had hoped for or expected against seventh-place Milverton.
“It was a big point to loose actually – we were really looking forward to getting those two points and holding that fourth spot,” said Thunder captain Brad Streib. “We took a 3-1 lead and then we got into some penalty trouble. (Dwayne) Blais scored a big goal late in the third and I thought we had momentum, but the overtime was a bad line change, the puck bounced and he had an open net.
“It was a pretty frustrating loss actually – to a seventh placed team. It was just one of those tough games.”
While Milverton opened the scoring, the Thunder and Four Wheels Drives traded power-play markers in the opening 20 minutes, and by first intermission Tillsonburg had taken a 3-1 lead with two quick goals from Dwayne Blais and Terry Lammens. The Thunder fell behind 4-3 in the last frame but managed to tie the game at 4-4 late in the third period with another goal from Blais.
“It was a really nice play by my linemates and I just got a lucky shot off and it went through his legs. It was nice to get the team back into it,” said Blais noting the team’s priority for New Year. “Our big goal is to make the playoffs and try and do the best we can there.”
Despite coming back to tie the game, some penalty trouble in the second frame and an overall lack of effort ended up costing the Thunder what was perceived to be an easy two points.
“Tonight was frustrating because we had a lot deeper bench and a better lineup than what we had last week, but we didn’t have the effort that we had last week,” said Thunder head coach Tim Christo. “It doesn’t really matter who you have or what you have, if you don’t have the effort like we had last week, we’re not going to win - and last week in both games we had an excellent effort by everybody and we played a good, solid hockey game.
“In the first two periods, there were a lot of penalties and there was no flow to the game whatsoever. Guys were sitting there for a while and not getting any ice time because we were killing so many penalties. It was frustrating.
“When you go into the third period with a 3-2 lead and then you end up losing the game 5-4 in overtime – that should not happen at home in your own rink like that. We’ve got to have a lot more pride in our hockey game than what we showed tonight.”
The second half of the season may be an uphill climb for the Thunder and Christo believes they have their work cut out for them.
“We’re probably pushing to shoot for third place – that’s what we’re shooting for. Giving away that extra point here tonight just makes it that much tougher. I think we’ve got six games remaining in January to finish off the regular season, and they’re six tough games against tough teams. We’re going to have to get re-focused and get the effort going in order to keep third place.”