The Campbell River Windsor Plywood Midget A Ravens played a couple of games last weekend.
The first one was at the friendly confines of Rod Brind’Amour Arena as they hosted the Peninsula Warriors on Saturday.
Despite missing a few key players, the Ravens limited the Warriors’ chances in the early going although the Warriors did get on the scoreboard first.
Raven Nolan Fair was able to make a sick deke, then tucked the ball into the top corner over the goalie’s shoulder to tie the score at one. Peninsula then added a couple of goals to lead 3-1 at the end of the first period.
Early in the second, and with time running down on the shot-clock, Nolan Morrison wired a wicked shot on goal that found the back of the onion bag. Later in the period, he followed that with another long distance shot that was just inside the post to tie the score at three. The Ravens earned their first lead of the season as Morrison spotted Ross Rickman breaking hard towards the Warrior goal on a transition. He fired a long-bomb pass that just eluded Rickman’s basket. The loose ball caromed off the boards and was scooped up by Fair who then buried it five-hole; 4-3 for the Ravens. Shortly after, the Ravens weren’t able to move the ball into the attacking zone and the Warriors made them pay as they worked an odd-man attack to find the open side of the net and score to tie it at 4-4.
The Warriors took advantage of a small lapse in defensive zone coverage as a shooter got his own rebound and buried it to retake the lead. At the ensuing face-off, Morrison got the ball and took it in on a partial breakaway, rippling the twine to tie the score at 5-5 at the end of the second period.
The Ravens kept working hard but weren’t able to put another one past the Warrior goalie. Cameron Hunter, Josh Fladager, Kodie Borton, Matt Leard, Quinn Pedersen, Lukas Lund and Liam Rivett were all working to deny the Warriors an easy path to the net. Kari Martynyk wasn’t shy about matching up against any offensive player and created a few turnovers. Unfortunately, trips to the sin bin allowed the Warriors to take advantage of power-plays and put a couple of goals on the board to win the game by a score of 7-5.
The next day, Easter Sunday, the Ravens travelled to Panorama Arena in Sidney to play Saanich Tigers A1. This game was also a lesson in how to play Canada’s national summer sport. The Tigers had 18 runners and every player ran their heart out whenever they stepped on the floor. The under-manned Ravens were caught flat-footed at times by the higher tempo the Tigers established. Saanich’s offence employed the pick-and-roll techniques as well as double-screens to free the shooter from prime spots. Cole Gent had the check of the game as he bagged a Tiger, putting the shooter on his backside and the ball on the floor.
The loose ball was scooped up by Fair who took it coast-to-coast and buried it behind the Tiger goalie to ruin his shut-out bid. The Tigers won by a final score of 11-1.
The Midget A Ravens’ next game is at home on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Juan de Fuca A1. The team would like to give a shout-out to the Intermediate B Ravens who are starting their season on Sunday beginning at 3:15 p.m. at Rod Brind’Amour Arena against Juan de Fuca. This team has some familiar faces on the roster including a few players from the Comox Valley.
