The first, second and majority of the third period wasn’t looking good for the West Central Bantam AA Tigers.
It wasn’t until Tiger Hudson Scott scored the team’s third goal in the third period to make the score and even 3-3 in the game against the Airdrie Lighting.
Just to make the game ever sweeter, Tigers forward Noah Carlson scored the team’s fourth and final goal with one minute and 29seconds left in the game marking a win on the board for the Tigers at a final post of 4-3.
The Tigers first goal came from Easton Moore early in the game with a long 14 minutes and 45 seconds left in the first period. The rest of first period and majority of the second period proved to be increasingly difficult as the Tigers climbed an uphill battle. Each team seemed to chip away at the other, going point for point until the fourth goal by the Tigers to take the win.
There was certainly no lack of effort from these athletes as they hustled hard to score with high shot counts for both team but strong goal tending from both parties not allowing either to score.
Going into the third period with a score of 3-1 for the Airdrie Lighting, the Tigers knew they would have to work even harder and not let discouragement get the best of them.
Tigers head coach Lane Moore commented on how the boys tried to stick to the game.
“We put pressure on the Lightning making them turnover and make mistakes,” Moore said. “Then they started taking penalties and that’s what helped us.”
Throughout the game he said his players seemed to be getting a good number of calls against them but in the third period they capitalized on the Lightning’s mistakes and struck while the iron was hot.
In the second period, Moore said he thought the Tigers played extremely well even when they struggled to get the puck behind the goalie.
“We just couldn’t put it in the net,” Moore said. “We just said stick to it, keep pressuring, keep the effort up and it finally started to pay off.”
“They worked hard and they deserve the win,” he added.
Noah Carlson, who passed the final test for the Tigers scoring the game winning goal, said the goal came from having pick pocketed the opposing player and putting a well placed shot behind the goalie.
“When the guy was skating down I lifted his stick and he lost the puck so I picked it up,” Carlson said.
He said it was somewhat discouraging at points in the game where they just weren’t making the goals but said in the third period the team really rallied together.
Despite having to deal with the penalties he said the team stuck together and proved they were a force to be reckoned with.
“Penalties definitely aren’t good, but you just have to get the whole team to believe,” added the young athlete.
He said it still feels great to have scored the last goal but that the greater feeling is how supportive and motivational the teammates are towards each other.
“We are supportive, there is)constructive talk in the dressing room and during intermissions and the coaches definitely help too,”Carlson said.
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com