Feb 05, 2018 | Becki Carleton | 996 views
Well Done Team!!
Exhale.
Two very strong games of hockey this past weekend saw the Bantam LL Ice Devils emphatically put an end to a somewhat lengthy winless streak with a win and a tie.
In the first of two weekend games, the Bantams travelled some snowy roads to Minden Ontario for an afternoon tilt with Highland Storm. The home team got on the board first, but Almaguin shrugged off a shaky first period to battle from behind for a well-deserved 3-2 win.
Following the opening Storm goal, Ice Devil forward Sylis Whittaker crashed the Highland net and was able to shovel in the rebound of an Andrew Hill shot to knot the game at one. Almaguin was just getting started as goals leader Markus Krajinovic netted the Ice Devils second of the game before Whittaker sent Max Boyes in alone with a beautiful cross-ice pass and as goal-scorers do, Boyes made no mistake, beating Storm goalie Maria O’Malley to stretch the lead to 3-1.
Despite cutting the lead to 3-2 in the waning minutes, a comeback was not in the cards for Highland as Almaguin’s defensive quartet of Cliff Loucks, Abby Cox-Zamaria, Elizabeth Hancocks and Abby Flynn, backed by the stellar goaltending of Daria Sollman shut the door to preserve the victory.
With spirits still high on Sunday morning, the Ice Devils returned to home ice in Burk’s Falls for a rematch with Huntsville Davicor and this time came out flying, putting three goals on the scoreboard in the first ten minutes of play.
On the first Almaguin goal, winger Markus Krajinovic jumped on a mishandled puck and put himself in alone, deking the Huntsville goalie to send the home fans into a frenzy. The Devils second of the game saw Sylis Whittaker net his second in as many games before alternate captain Kallan Ronholm finished off a nice passing play with teammate Hayden Snow, ripping home a shot from the lip of the crease for Almaguin’s third tally.
A strong push by Huntsville almost saw them complete the comeback, but Sollman once again stood tall in the Devils net to earn Almaguin at least a point for a second straight game.