Figuring out the opposition’s moves and tweaking your angle of attack can often win a hockey game.
This seemed to be the case as Cinderwood (1-1-0) squared off with Gem Gas (2-0-0) in Atom league play Saturday at Takhini Arena.
Down 5-1 by the end of the first, Cinderwood tweaked its style of play to rally to a 5-5 tie before the end of the second. However, regaining its momentum, Gem Gas took back the lead on its way to a 10-7 win.
“The forwards’ helping out the defence a bit more; trying to prevent the break-a-ways that did occur quite a bit,” said Cinderwood coach Mark Wykes, speaking of how his team altered its game.
“I think that we weren’t playing properly in the first period, they got ahead of us quite a bit. Had we erased that first period, we probably would have won the game.”
With less than four minutes of play in the second, Gem Gas scored twice before the end of the period to make it 7-5.
“The other team figured out a bit of our tactics and slowed us down,” said Ponsioeu. “Once we clued in that they were doing that, we tried our best to overcome that, and obviously we did.”
Among the game’s 17 goals was a pair hat tricks, one coming from each bench.
Cinderwood’s Jonas Leas opened the scoring for his team with 4:20 left in the first, and then put two more on the board in the third with his team’s final two goals.
“He’s an amazing player,” said Wykes of Leas. “He knows where the puck is and where it should be. So he pays attention to where his teammates are and he’s got a lot of drive.”
Leas hat trick was basically cancelled out by Gem’s Joe Stokes, who scored twice in the first and once in the third.
“I can tell you he’s a good little player – he’s a digger,” said Gem coach Yogi Ponsioeu. “He likes going into corners, he’s always a part of the team and he’s a hard worker.”
Cinderwood’s rally back to 5-5 could be attributed to more than just its strategic adaptation in the second.
“Our goaltender was actually up all night with the flu and didn’t want to be there,” said Ponsioeu of Gem’s net minder Mikeala Ponsioeu. “She was pretty sluggish and tired.”
Gem’s Tyler Eggleston and Damien Homis both racked up a pair of goals, while teammates Cody Sims, Patrick Macdonald and Corry Roberts each put one on the board.
Keenan Livingston scored twice to help the Cinderwood cause, while Trenton Dupont and Kaly McLeod did their part with individual goals.
Yukon Appliance motors through Klondike Motors
Yukon Appliance’s coach Mike Cozens has a very nonchalant attitude towards his team’s latest win.
“Some go in, some don’t,” he said, after Appliance (2-0-0) held onto an early lead to beat Klondike Motors 6-2 Saturday at Takhini Arena.
“It was a good game, both teams had a lot of chances and good goaltending in each end,” said Cozens. “We got some of the early ones, they got some later goals.”
Appliance’s Jamie Limeges scored his second goal of the game with 5:20 left in the second to put his team up 5-0. However, Motors (0-2-0) bounced back with a goal at the end of the second and at the start of the third.
“The kids kept working hard and we got two goals,” said Motors coach George King. “The kids never gave up, they kept working hard, trying to get a couple.
“I think they were excited to break that shut out, break that zero, to tell you the truth,” added King.
“Maybe our team dropped because their team picked it up a little bit,” said Cozens. “We got some early goals, but then they came on hard and kept working. They had a lot of good chances … they could have scored some goals.”
With the Motors producing a handful of break-a-ways in the game, Cozens is giving his goaltender Joshua Tetlitchi a lot of credit for the win.
“We didn’t even know we had a goalie, and he showed up with goalie pads,” said Cozens. “He’s a very good goaltender.”
King hopes that he will be able to keep his player’s legs fresh by adding a few more players to the Motors bench before the end of the season.
“I had nine players today, so it would be nice to have a couple more players to give the kids a break,” said King. “Come the third period, they’re getting pretty tired.”