U14 'Twister Sisters' pick up another ringette win
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After a ringette game that was a little disappointing Saturday, Tillsonburg Oxford Source for Sports U14s hit the road for a game in London against a Lynx team they hadn't been able to beat in their first couple of meetings.
It didn't look good early on with a couple of families showing up and seeing the dressing room boards didn't even have their team listed... maybe it was because they were a little afraid of the visitors... maybe they should have been.
Building on some momentum from Saturday, Tillsonburg erased an early deficit when Olivia 'Livy' Yarmie sprang to action from her defensive position and tied the game up with just under six minutes to play in the first period.
Then a minute and a half later the crowd was treated to the goal of the year. With the Twisters having just lost the ring in the attack zone Holly Thomson forced a turnover to go right to Gillian Gilmore, her head up and feet moving she saw Emma Heemskerk about 10 feet from the front right of the crease all alone. What happened next simply shows the amazing instincts Emma has; the air conditioning fans in the rink must have turned on and blew her down just before the ring got to her... unfazed by the change in weather conditions she didn't miss a beat as she one-timed it to the bottom corner... 2-1 Twisters. YouTube search "Ovechkin scores from his back"... same goal.
Not to be out-done, Kendyl 'K-Mac' MacIntyre decided to cash in on the fact that the team paparazzi was in the building and pulled a highlight move of her own. We're not sure who her favorite NHL goalie ever is, but she pulled a Dominik Hasek save. After getting most of a rocket of a shot that was squeaking by her, she didn't give up on it and somehow flopped over to facing the goal line on her belly and grabbed the ring within an inch of it going in.
That might have spurred on the group in front of her as before the period ended Kristen Coffin fired a goal of her own. No highlight, but it counted and made it a 3-2 game at the break. The Twister Sisters kept coming and Tishara 'Tish' Loucks' hard work finally paid off, Livy kept the play alive and fed it over to Tish as she made a couple of kids miss and then smoked her first regular season goal by the Lynx goalie.
An otherwise uneventful period came to a close but not before a streaking Holly used her voice and her speed to let Emily 'Em-Patts' Patterson know she was flying up the ice as she took the lead pass hard to the net for the final goal.
A little luck in the last minute of play kept Kenzie McLean's penalty minutes for the game to two. Coaches counted three separate uncalled penalties she committed in the final 60 seconds... maybe it was a little payback for some rough play that took Gill out earlier.
Strong play from all. Kenzie and Alyssa Parsons had a nice and tempered aggressive game. The duo of Emily and Chelsea Ratter had moments of brilliance - the gambler in Emily has come to realize that Chelsea's positioning and ability to cover the back let her get into the rush. Bryden Csanyi and Livy both played well at both ends of the ice, both got on the score-sheet as well as kept the chances at Kendyl to a minimum.
The forward lines looked like they both were working well, Alivia 'Ali' Chanyi, Tish and Kristen are figuring out where each of them like to hang out on the ice and all of them chipped in; the Holly, Gill and Emma line looked dangerous every time they were out there and Emma's confidence seems to have returned to her with the knowledge that Holly will destroy anyone who messes with her winger. As usual Kendyl was Kendyl... made pretty much everything look easy if not exciting.
"Communication" and "Attitude" were in high demand today, the voices were heard from all around the ice with the players looking for each other and making better plays that we have been subjected to over the last few weeks. Now it's time to refine the plays, keep the momentum and show Mitchell that they got off easy Saturday.
We're off to Monkton next week and with a couple more line-up changes coming down the pipe for next weekend we'll have to see if they work.
-- Ryan Thomson