The last time the Kitchener-Waterloo
Kodiaks and the Oakville Rock met in Oakville, the Rock held a 6-5
lead with four minutes left to play. KW scored a goal to tie it up,
then Mike Poulin hit Mitch Wilde with a perfect
breakout pass that Wilde buried for the game winning goal. Last
night, the Rock led 6-5 with four minutes to play. KW scored a goal
to tie it up. Neither team could find the back of the net the rest of
the way, though, so it was off to overtime. And this time, it was the
Rock with the chance to win it on a breakout play as Tye Belanger
led Graham Bergsma perfectly with a lofted pass straight up
the middle of the floor with just over two minutes to go in the extra
frame. No dice on a game winner this time, though. Daly's shot went
just wide, the teams played the rest of overtime without scoring and
they finished in a 6-6 tie.
Both teams were missing key cogs to
their offence: Aaron Wilson, Jamie Rooney and Corey
Fowler were all out for the Kodiaks while the Rock were without
Stephan Leblanc. That at least partly explains why, despite
plenty of shots being taken (56 by Oakville and 54 by KW) there
weren't bucketloads of good scoring opportunities. The defences and
goaltenders deserve plenty of credit for that. Both Poulin and
Belanger handled most of the outside shots they faced and both made
some great saves in close at crucial times of the game.
Neither team was able to score at all
for the first 11:40 of the game, when Craig England finally
broke the drought, taking a rebound off the back boards and tucking
it just inside the right post to give KW the lead. They were up 3-1
after the first period, then the teams scored a pair of goals each in
the second to head to the final 20 minutes with the Kodiaks ahead
5-3.
Kyle Aquin ripped home a shot
off a cross-floor pass on a Rock power play then Nic Grasby
connected a minute and half later and the game was tied 5-5 at 7:45.
Oakville took its first lead of the game thanks to a Dilan Gilbert
goal at 12:41. Gilbert took an overhand shot from a few feet outside
the crease, followed it and picked up the rebound off of Poulin's
chest and deposited the ball into the far side of the net.
What turned out to be the final goal of
the game was a heart-breaker for Oakville. Belanger stopped a long
shot as the shot clock was about to expire then flipped a short pass
to Eric Pitre as he stepped out of his crease. Pitre went to
pass the ball up the floor, but Brandon Ivey jumped,
intercepted the pass and fired it into the open net before Belanger
could recover. To his credit, Pitre was one of the best players on
the floor in the overtime period, working hard to try to overcome his
error.
With the tie, KW is still two points
ahead of Oakville for fourth place in the MSL standings, although the
Rock have two games in hand. Oakville does pull a point ahead of the
Brampton Excelsiors. Oakville is back in action Monday night as they
play host to the Brooklin Redmen. KW returns to the floor with a home
game Tuesday night against Brampton.
