Thunder make it eight straight
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Tillsonburg Thunder's Shane Balcomb had possession inside Monkton's blueline on a two-on-one rush with 1:15 left in the third period Saturday. His pass, just beyond his teammate's reach, sent the puck into the corner.
What Balcomb didn't know was that Monkton goalie Jason Hamilton had already skated to the bench for an extra attacker 20 seconds earlier.
“I didn't even know the goalie was out,” smiled Balcomb, who had two assists in Saturday's WOAA AA Senior Men's Hockey League game at the Tillsonburg's Kinsmen Memorial Arena, and a five-point weekend.
“Just one of those things... I'll get over it.”
Thunder captain Kevin Galerno iced Saturday's 4-1 win with Hamilton still on the bench, scoring an empty-netter with 1:01 left to play.
While Tillsonburg goalie Ben Thomas stopped 18 of 19 shots, Hamilton was bombarded in the Wildcat net, saving 57 of 61 Thunder shots.
“He's definitely one of the best goalies in the league,” said Balcomb, crediting Monkton's short, but solid goalie. “He did the same last time... definitely not just lucky. With him, it's a matter of moving the puck from side to side and getting traffic. Once you get that many shots, the goalie's bound to let more in. You don't change much.
“Same in Clinton last night – Clinton was just playing run-and-gun in the first two periods, then they just ran right out of gas in the third period and we took over.”
It took a Devin Homick goal with 12:59 remaining Saturday, a backhander cutting across the top of the Monkton crease, to put Tillsonburg up 2-1 in the third. Ryan Gaertner added insurance with just under eight minutes left.
“Sometimes all it takes is just getting that one goal,” said Balcomb.
“We've had a few of those this year,” said coach Jim Baxter. “The first two at home were like that. We've had more than 50 shots every game, except for two maybe.
“With our lines, we've got 12 good forwards and three good scoring lines. You'll see us break out here, sooner or later, where everything goes in.”
Scoreless after one period against a short-staffed Monkton squad, Baxter had figured, 'if we get 60 (shots) we'll win.'
“They only had four D, that was the big thing. In the third period we wore them down. Outshot them 21-4, I think.”
The danger in a close game, however, is giving up a goal when heavily outshooting an opponent.
“We keep reiterating that. You've got to play 60 minutes. Because when we're up 3-1 with five minutes left, if you give up one weak goal – one bad mistake – they're in the game, or think they're in the game and they're giving it their all for the next five minutes. We did a great job, when we were up one, then two, we never gave them much.
“It was a big win to keep the streak alive,” summed up Baxter, noting the Thunder have a tough stretch coming up, Friday at home to Tavistock (8:30 p.m.), then Clinton and Komoka on the road to close out November.
“We got off to a great start this year, won the games we were supposed to, and snuck out a couple – that was a big win last night. A great team-building win.”
THUNDER 3, RADARS 2
Tillsonburg came from behind to beat Clinton 3-2 Friday night and Balcomb wasn't the setup man – he was the goal scorer, notching three to help the Thunder overcome a 2-0 deficit.
“We were down two going into the third,” Balcomb noted. “Then coach (Baxter) bumped me up to the top line, gave me a shot with those guys (Nathan Peacock, Kevin Galerno). He wanted me going out front on the power play.”
The Thunder had two third-period power plays, and Balcomb scored on both.
“Standing out front, back-to-back. Just wanted to make the best of the opportunity.”
He made it a natural hat trick burying his third of the night with 37 seconds left, assisted by Peacock and Brad Jones.
“The most important thing for me when I'm on the ice is 'don't get scored on.' But I like to pressure and get in there too. Usually they're not the prettiest goals when I do score, but every once in a while you get lucky. A lot of it's confidence, too. Once you do get a couple you get a lot more confidence.”
Wins on Friday and Saturday improved Tillsonburg's South Division leading record to 8-0, four points ahead of Tavistock (who have two games in hand), and six points ahead of Komoka (who have three games in hand).
“Good team chemistry,” credited Balcomb, “especially with the new coach. You can tell everyone respects him, everyone's buying into what he's saying, and making practices – just the commitment everyone has. Nobody really cares who scores or gets points, all we really care about is winning hockey games.”
There's still a lot of senior hockey to be played – they're only one-third through the season.
“It's nice to win and get the momentum, but you can't get too high,” said Balcomb. “At least we know what we're capable of.”