Last Friday night, the Wainfleet Wild ventured back into A-town for game three of the OMHA playdowns. Having lost the first two games of the series, the Peewee’s were hoping to capture a win in front of the hometown crowd to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Midway through the first Tristan Binkley would neatly move the puck up the boards to Ashley Jackson who would make a picture perfect pass onto Josh McKee’s stick before Red would take a slick shot to capture the Vipers first goal of the game. The Vipers would finish the first period short-handed, but as a result of fantastic penalty-killing efforts they would maintain the 1-0 lead.
The Vipers would secure a two goal lead at the nine minute mark of the second. On this goal, Captain McKee would show us his goods by stick handling through the entire Wainfleet team before tapping the score in past the bewildered Wild tender.  Kyle Stewart picked up the assist.
For some reason, it would be at this point that we would lose our focus and decide to sit on the two goal lead. This would not be to our advantage as it would allow Wainfleet to come back and score two within the last five minutes of the second to tie the game - the first on a short-handed give-away in front of our net while the other would be on their power play.
However, luck and skill would be on our side this night, when at the eight minute mark of the third, Benny would once again come up with a huge goal for the Vipers after he would bang in the winner with a one timer from the front of the net after receiving a sweet pass from Jacob Brownson. Kevin Hutchison would also assist on the goal.
The Wild outshot the Vipers 26-17 in this one (thanks Darcy!). Consistent defensive play by Jason Nauta certainly helped the Vipers secure this win and Goalie Kevin should also be congratulated on a strong game in between the pipes.
Saturday was a beautiful day outside – probably the nicest weather day that we have had in a while. Unfortunately, for the Vipers, the sun would not shine on them inside of the rink on this day.
The first period would once again finish with no scoring and no penalties. Wainfleet scored three in the second and the Vipers only goal in the period would come on a ‘J’ combination that would see Brownson secure the Viper’s first goal - with assists from Josh Ellis and Josh Bowen. Alex McCabe would record Arthur’s second goal when she pushed the puck passed the goal line after a flurry of activity in front of the Wainfleet net. Binkley had the assist. The Wild, would come back seconds later with a goal to go ahead 4-2.   About a minute later, McKee would notch another one (unassisted) on the Vipers side of the scoreboard. The Wild would get another goal at the five minute mark and take this one with a score of 5-3.
The Vipers have battled hard to finish every game in this series. The kids should all be proud of their “stick to it attitude” and the intense efforts that they put into each and every game. The wins recorded by each team in this series could easily have gone the other way. 
Although, the OMHA playoff hopes for the Peewee’s have come to an end, there is no reason to be too sad, Viper kids (and fans). There is still lots of hockey action to be had. The Peewee’s will begin their Tri-County playoffs on Saturday at 4 pm against the Erin Hillsburgh Devils at the ACC. Hope to see you there!