Wednesday, November 1, 2006 · Page 25 Atom A Forest Machine CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 Early in the third period, Amherstburg hit our net hard as they tried to capitalize on a power play. Spectacular saves by netminder Kyle Hill and strong defensive play by A.J. Market and Derek Morris held the Stars at bay. At the 7:19 mark, Brett Rickeard gave Essex their third goal when he nabbed the puck off a face off in the Stars' zone and nailed it home. Minutes later, the Stars scored to cut our lead to one. Amherstburg pulled their goalie in the dying minutes of the third, but ssex held strong and laimed the extremely well arned victory 3-2. Sunday, the Ravens faced ff against the Riverside angers in Essex. The avens clearly dominated he first, heading into the econd with a four-goal ead. Dillon Jarvis put the avens on the scoreboard irst, assisted by David tafford. Huddy Hudvagner hen hit the mesh not once ut twice, unassisted, to put he Ravens ahead by three. ith 45 seconds remaining n the first, Jonah Fuerth cored off a set up by Jeffery Miller and Salty Salter. Jonah Fuerth hit the mesh again early in the second to give Essex a shorthanded goal. The assist went to Salty Salter. William Wuerch caught a pass from David Stafford and fired in another shorthanded goal, giving Essex a 6-0 lead. Riverside rallied at the midway mark and took full advantage of several Essex penalties to breach our defense and batter our net. Outstanding goal tending by Josh Myers held the Rangers to three goals. The third saw the Rangers snag another power play goal, making it 6-4. Essex responded with hard skating, sharp passing and great set-ups to fire in three goals. Huddy more Hudvagner earned a hat trick off a pass from Salty Salter, as did Jonah Fuerth, assisted by Huddy Hudvagner and Salty Salter. Salty scored the Raven's final goal, assisted by Jeffrey Miller. Final score 94 Essex. The Ravens' next home game is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. Come out and cheer on this great, hard working team! On Oct. 27 the Midget Majors began a home and series against home Amherstburg at Essex Arena. The boys started out slow with Amherstburg leading after the first period 1-0. Amherstburg came out in the second and made it 20 midway through. Chris Zelko played awesome to keep us in the game. Before the second period ended, Spencer Woltz scored to put us on the board with assists going to Brad Quinlan and Nick Diemer. It was back and forth in the third with Josh Klein tying it up, with the assist going to Brad Quinlan. The Ravens penalty killing was great throughout the game. They stopped Amherstburg on all eight power plays. It was exciting right down to the last second with us pressing but unable to get the go-ahead goal. Game ended 2-2. On Saturday, Oct. 28 we traveled to Amherstburg. Again we found ourselves getting behind with. Amherstburg putting one in the second of the double header, there was a less then fair effort put forth by the team. Matt Lachine would return after a knee injury the night before to start the game. Belle River put in five goals in the first and that was the killer. Matt Lachine was taken out of the game so he did not further injure his knee. But Amanda Wigfield was solid in net not giving up any goals. After a rough first period the Ravens finally decided to start throwing Midget Major CAW Club 200 just minutes into the game. Midway through the second period Amherstburg went up 2- 0 with a power play goal. Sean Bear made some great saves to get the team on track. With the second period coming to an end, Daniel Bacon scored a short handed unassisted goal with one second left on the clock. Huge momentum change going into the break. Coming out to start the third, our guys never backed down but, unfortunately, Amherstburg tallied again to make it 3-1. With less than five minutes left in the game Spencer Woltz made it 3-2, with assists going to Brad Quinlan and Nick Diemer on the power play. With less than two minutes left in the game, Daniel Bacon tied it 3-3 with assists going to Spencer Woltz and Kyle McCamon. Great effort Ravens for not giving up and playing three full periods. Our defensive game is looking good, way to work D. On Friday, Oct. 27 we travelled to St. Thomas to participate in our second tournament of the year. Due to a change in the roster, head office had to make some adjustments. We wish Chase Rossini continued success in his hockey endeavours and.we congratulate Spenser Smith and Colin Ellis on joining our team. Our first game was Friday against the Kitchener Junior Rangers, with Dusty Ridley in net. Like most games early in our season, we ended up visiting the penalty box too many times, allowing our opponents to take advantage. Well-executed plays during our penalty kill kept the game scoreless. Our aggressive play hurt the Ravens. As the game developed we began to play with more intensity. We had our chances to score as plays set up by Kyle Tremblay, Evan Bechard and Brandon Flood came close. Smart hockey by our defense, Spencer Smith and Colin Ellis, prepped our wingers to breakout with the puck. Great moves by defenseman Zach Heil, as he matched his man, pinning him against the boards at the right time and the lines of Johnny Spidelieri, Eric Lee, Luca Acchione and Cody Spitse made that extra effort at the end, trying to ruin Kitchener's shutout. Great rushes by Josh Davison kept his linemates intact with his play, but once again Essex was denied any glory. Final score: Kitchener 5, Essex 0. Great job by Evan Bechard, MVP for Essex. Friday night, we faced Pee Wee A Tim Hortons Midget Minor CCD by Spencer McDowell This weekend the Ravens had a double header against the Belle River Rink Rats. The boys came up with a quick one, two minutes in by Cory McDonnell assisted by Spencer McDowell. But Belle River answered back quickly when they slid one by Matt Lachine. Belle River would put in four in the second. But even with Matt Lachine leaving the game with a knee injury and Andrew Kozak leaving with a rib injury the Ravens never gave up. There were some other small injuries but we were able to fight through them. Cory popped in another one with assists by Derek Vivier and Doug Lambier four minutes into the third. But that would be it scoring wise for the Ravens. Belle River put in two more in the third to make a final score 72 Belle River. Coach Gord McDonnell was not pleased with the score but was glad that the team never gave up with only 11 players by the time the game was over. When the Ravens travelled to Belle River to play their bodies around with some nice hits from Spencer McDowell (who also got rocked a few times himself) Danny Vivier and Cory McDonnell. Danny Vivier put in the Ravens' only goal which was a top corner snipe assisted by Derek Vivier and Kevin Boggs. A special thanks goes to Travis Henricks who drove home from St. Thomas to play for us. It was his third game that day but it sure didn't look like it. West London. Brady Heil got the game call to start. We had to play every period like a game itself since the point system in this tournament awards points per period. The London team came well prepared, showing the drive to win. At certain moments of the game we positioned well. Our wingers used the point men to take shots and followed the play to the net, but no breaks came our way. Final score: London 7, Essex 0. MVP for this game, Eric Lee. Our third opponent was St. Catherines Warriors on Oct. 28. Our team had a different attitude on the ice. We forechecked and played with fire. Breakout plays were well executed and we came head-to-head with St. Catherines in the neutral zone. We used our point man on a regular basis as Justin Melo and Tremblay took many shots, trying to earn that first goal. Breakouts by Luca, Eric and Brandon and smart teamwork once again proved that these boys, if their minds are playing hockey, can stay physical but penalty-free. Dusty kept the game interesting and close, making great saves. The defense earned their keep, doing their job to help Dusty. Final score: St. Catherines 2, Essex 0. MVP of the game, a well earned award, Dusty Ridley. Losing is not fun but remember what Mario Lemieux said, "Maintain a positive attitude no matter what the challenge you are facing." Keep trying boys! ESSEX MINOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Open to the public for everyone to get involved! NOVEMBER 2, 2006 AT 7:00 PM THURSDAY, At Woodslee Credit Union, Essex Branch"Community Room" (side entrance)