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Wednesday, October 18, 2006 · Page 27 Bantam A Essex Source for Sports Bantam AE Facca Construction Midget Major CAW Club 200 The Essex Ravens Midget Major hockey team played only one game for the week ending Oct. 15. This was against the very powerful Belle River Jr. Canadiens. This team had scored 5 or more goals in every game so far this season. The first period started slowly, with goaltender Chris Zelko making some key saves to keep the score close at 1-0 Belle River. Belle River scored their second goal halfway through the second to take a 2-0 lead. Then the Ravens came back. Spencer Woltz and Josh The Essex Ravens Bantam A flew in on Friday the thirteenth to host the Belle River Rink Rats. The Ravens were penalized early in the first period but witnessed great defense from ravis Henricks in clearing he puck from our zone to nsure Belle River didn't get n the board first with a ower play goal. he Ravens were penalized gain early in the second eriod, but superb physical lay by our defense made ure the Rats didn't put one ast our goalie. At the sixinute mark Belle River did mack one in but it was with high stick so the goal was isallowed. Two minutes ater Belle River was sucessful and fired one past to o up 1-0. After some great ositional play and digging n the boards, Colin DeLaet nd Blain Little set up Tony pidalieri to tie the game at ne. The Ravens came out strong in the third and kept the Belle River goalie busy. Belle River once again got an opportunity with a power play but terrific zone coverage by Chad Hedrick, Eddy Sauve and Alec Shuttleworth kept the Rink Rats from scoring. With just under 11 minutes to play and the Rink Rats still on the power play, a great play by Kyle Zelko pushed the puck up the boards to Tony Spidalieri who pushed it past the Belle River defender. On a breakaway, Tony made no mistake and slid one through the five hole of the Belle River netminder to go up 2-1. Belle River was hopeful they tied it up but a second goal was disallowed as a result of a hand pass. Wesley Strain continued to make great saves against his former teammates, but Belle River tied it up with 6:20 to go and that was how the game ended, 2-2. The Ravens played the Tecumseh Eagles on home ice Oct. 14. The boys came out skating hard. There was good defense from Alex Merryfield, Luke McCarthy, Bobby McGowan, Shane Fryer, Matthew Conley and Jeffrey Battersby. The Ravens' offense wasn't shabby either. Two goals went to Matthew McGuire, both assisted by Awstin Pettit. Luke McCarthy and Chris Laliberte each had unassisted goals. In the third period the Ravens showed that they planned on winning this game. Hats off to Ravens goaltender Ryan Dickson who shut the door on the Eagles Home team victory: 4-3. Midget Minor CCD On Friday the Ravens travelled to Amherstburg. Essex started out slow but stayed with it. Amherstburg drove to the net and banged in a goal midway through the first period. Amherstburg came out flying to start the second by scoring another rebound goal to take a 2-0 lead. Great goal tending by Matt Lachine helped to keep the game close. During the third period Essex was shooting the puck from all angles but could not buy a goal. In a last minute attempt, Essex pulled the goalie. Amherstburg scored on an empty net for a 3-0 win. Saturday night Essex hosted Riverside and did not want a repeat of last night's game. Great goaltending by both teams kept the score 0-0 at the end of the first period. Shortly into the second, Andrew Kozac put one past the keeper to open the scoring for Essex. Some hard hitting and great penalty kills paid off and led to another goal by Quinton Rossini. With 36 seconds remaining in the second, Kevin Boggs lasered a shot from the blue line to put Essex up 3-0. Essex was outplaying Riverside and it showed. Danny Vivier shelved a shot from the goal line halfway through the third to keep the scoring drive alive. Essex did not let up. Fifteen seconds later Jesse Breault scored his first goal of the year and the scoring was not done yet. With four minutes to go in the third, Doug Lambier put in the final goal for Essex to make the final score 6-0. Amazing goaltending by Amanda Wigfield secured the shutout. A special thanks to our sponsor Canadian Computer Distributors and also to Scott Maryfield who generously donated money for the team to have a pizza party. Klein both scored within the next two minutes to tie the game up. Belle River scored early in the third period and added an empty net goal at the end to take the game 4-2. Fortunately for Essex, they started to play better and can take great solace in the fact that they are the first team to keep Belle River under five goals. Dan Bacon played a great two-way game and the whole team played well during the loss. Hopefully, the team can build on this when they play Southpoint next week. Atom A Forest Machine Friday night we hosted a game against the Southpoint Capitals. This was our first meeting of the season. Coach Dave Morris had to make line changes since three of our regular players were out of the line-up. The game started a bit slow as our boys adjusted to their partners, but soon the action picked up. Kyle Hill made some great saves for us in net. Mitch Hudvagner, Jonah Fuerth and Dillon Jarvis all had chances to score but were all denied. Southpoint scored first at 6:08 in the first. Our team didn't give up, and kept the pressure on. Late in the first Mitch Salter made a long pass up the side to Jonah Fuerth, who was able to go in and get a shot off from a wide angle and score. The action continued with Atom AE Ram Contract Carriers The Ravens hosted a game against the LaSalle Sabres on October 12. In the first period we were able to keep the puck out of our end with our great defensive moves, especially those from Carter Sherk. Eric Rawlins was jected from the game, eakening our offensive ines. Emily Cressman held er place in net until three uick and sneaky goals from aSalle made it difficult for ur team to stay focused. Fast skating shifts from idan Garant, Anthony Iacobini and Danielle Dent's line helped to keep us going. A nice shot from Tyler St. Pierre hit the net, assisted by Gerard Busko and Zack Prentice. This put us on the scoreboard. There were some great passes and opportunities to score but we were unable to get past their defence. A lot of fast skating and good checking was not enough to shake LaSalle and in the end they beat us 7-1. Our next game is Friday night against Chatham at home. everyone playing strong. The defense, which consisted of Derrick Morris, Dave Stafford, A.J. Market and Mitch Salter, all made great plays and shut down the Southpoint offence numerous times. Jordan Hooker, Dalton Langlois, Brett Rickeard and William Wuerch also kept the offensive pressure on. Josh Myers came in net in the second half and also did an excellent job. A special thanks to Aidan Garant for stepping in and helping us out. Final score: 4-1 for Southpoint. Our next game is on Sunday at 5:30 against the Windsor Jr. Spitfires, so come and cheer our boys on. Good luck to all participating in the golf tournament on Saturday.