It was a rough night on the ice for midget Mustangs left wing Morris Morrison on Monday.
Creating some power plays for his team along the way, Morrison had two mid-ice collisions, slid into the boards (and was slow to get up) and was sandwiched between Yukon Appliance players.
However, unlike wins, bruises fade.
“It was rougher than most games,” said Morrison. “I was forechecking more, just trying to get a goal for the team. It didn’t work out a couple times.”
Down 3-1 early into the second period, the Mustangs fought their way back into the game, taking their first lead with under five minutes left, eventually defeating Yukon Appliance 6-4 in rec league, Division A hockey at Takhini Arena.
“The past few games we have been trailing in the game and not skating really hard the whole game, this game we were sick of it and battled back,” said right winger Dalton Edzerza, named Mustangs’ player of the game. “We got the lead and didn’t let up.”
“We’ve been doing a lot of skating drills in practice, trying to get our stamina up,” added Morrison.
Tying the game 3-3 midway through the second (of two periods) on a slapper from the blue line from Travis Rivest, the Mustangs again fell behind on a goal from Appliance’s Spencer Tomlin, his second of the game.
Just seconds after coming off the power play, the Mustangs again leveled the score on a goal from Chris Vance, finding the five-hole on a lengthy wrist shot.
With four minutes, 34 seconds to play, the Mustangs took their first lead on a redirection in front by Edzerza. Getting his third assist of the game on the goal was centre Brad Keaton.
“He’s a great playmaker; he knows how to handle the puck,” said Edzerza. “He knows what to do when we’re coming down on the forecheck, and he knows how to get the puck in the net too. He has a good shot.”
Mustangs Bryden Cook ended the game with an empty netter in the dying seconds.
Also scoring for the Mustangs were Trevor Hanna in the first, followed by Morrison.
Producing Yukon Appliance’s opening goals were Aaron Pettitt and Eric Kositsin, who also had two assists in the game.
The midget Mustangs will attempt to maintain their never-die attitude this Friday for Hockey Night in Whitehorse, a four-game showcase featuring five Mustangs teams.
The action starts at 5:15 p.m. with an all-Mustang engagement as the atoms take on the peewee B team, followed by the peewee Mustangs facing Kopper King in bantam house league play.
The following two games, stating at 8 p.m., will be the FSC bantam Mustangs against the YES Jets in rec league B division and the midget Mustangs with the Kluane Drillers, who have no lost love between them.
“It’s pretty rough and pretty mouthy out there,” said Edzerza of Friday’s matchup. “It’s definitely a rivalry from last year and this year.”
While on the topic of nights dedicated to Canada’s pastime, on December 26 local First Nations atom development team, the Wolverines, will be featured on CBC Hockey Night in Canada’s pre-game show, Scotiabank Hockey Tonight.
The brief appearance will include a short feature about the team followed by the Wolverines introducing that night’s games.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com