One night, two games, two big winners. The action was hot and heavy for the 80’s and the 92’s in Arthur Midget Viper Local League play with the 80’s taking an Erin-Hillsburgh 5-2 and the 92’s spanking Elora 7-4 for back to back victories on another wild Monday.
The 80’s had an extra challenge on their plate playing with a short bench due to suspensions from a slight misunderstanding in Fergus the week before. Howie Shields was called on to play goal and I’m not lying when I tell you he had crowd chanting his name before the end of the game. Carter Gingrich, Matt Byne and Dean McKenzie were a three man D-crew and played great with Carter being especially good in his own end. Dean with two and Matt with one chipped in on the goal scoring front. Andrew Wright was shifted to forward fro this one and responded with two big goals. Fellow forwards Mike Vriens, Michael Campbell, Shawn Bell and Brady Rundle worked their buns off to help keep the 80’s unbeaten at 5-0-1 in the playoffs.
Next up were the Flying 92’s and it wasn’t long before Jeremy Langdon gave them a 1-0 lead. Scotty Harwood doubles it, before Elora scores late in the first. Adrian Savu strikes in the second then solid goaltending from Lisa Billiald and gritty D-work from Dylan McDougall and Nate Redburn frustrate the Elora boys. The rascals break through late in the frame and tie it up with a pair making for stress and tension heading to the third. Bryce McDermid takes a feed from Brad Gautreau to get the Vipers a lead in the third, then D-dude Tim Wright sneaks in off the point and takes a McDermid pass to give the 92’s a two goal bulge. Brand Piller’s good corner work nets him an assist on the play. However, (there always seems to be a “however”0 the visitors cash one 20 seconds later and nobody’s breathing easy. The Fem-bots (Ellen Shaw, Laura Hatch and Rebecca Holinshead) give Coach John Redburn and good shift and draw a penalty as Ellen is bowled over by a rambunctious Elora forward. Scotty snipes on the power play, and then Jeremy inserts the dagger with an empty netter getting great help from linemates Addie Savu and Jeff Avery.