Cyclones-A Narrowly Miss Out On An Upset…

Posted on November 26, 2008 at 3:03 pm by Clark Caughey

Sunday 23rd November 2008 – In a weekend of tough games for the Cyclones Senior A team, many people believed that both the games against last seasons first and second placed teams would be a walk over. The Cyclones however had other plans…

The first game of the day saw the Cyclones face off against East Coast Blaze who were fielding a full strength side after netminder Mark Barritt missed the sides last game. This was first meeting of the two teams this season and it proved to be a thriller… after leaks in the roof delayed the face off by 20 minutes that is.

Once the surface was deemed playable the Cyclones flew out of the blocks to take an early lead. Just minutes into the game debutant Jonny Knox recieved a cross net pass from assistant captain Clark Caughey, earning his first goal as a Cyclone by burrying it in the bottom left corner. Seconds later Clark was to get his name on the gamesheet once again increasing the lead to 2 when he worked the puck out of the corner and stepped into the slot to slip the puck through Barritts 5-hole.

The Blaze, eager to get back into the game, peppered Cyclones netminder Kenny Bickerstaff trying to get on the scoreboard. Bickerstaff however confidently got his sparkly new white pads behind puck after puck to keep the score at 2-0.

It took until the mid point of the first period before ECB finally found the back of the net when a tipped shot infront of goal sent Bickerstaff the wrong way. This opened the flood gates and soon the Cyclones found themselves trailing five goals to two.

After a few choice words from coach Dave Nicolai during the intermission the Cyclones once again proved that they were not to be taking lightly as strikes from Chris Millar, Adam Shanley and Clark Caughey tied the game.

With both sides pushing for the lead East Coast Blaze’s experience showed catching the Cyclones on the break and taking the lead with just 5 minutes remaining.

Putting pressure on the Blaze defence the Cyclones almost tied the game once again however with a minute remaining the momentum was lost as a turnover forced netminder Kenny Bickerstaff to play the puck over the red line as he was on his way to the bench for the extra skater. The Blaze scored on the resulting powerplay to put the game out of reach at 7-5. Disappointed, the Cyclones-A side left the rink knowing that although they had lost the game, they had put in an excellent performance against one of the leagues best sides, a sentiment that was echoed by their coach after the game.

Report for Cyclones-A vs Belfast Bruins to follow…