Bantam Minors Weekend Report
The Clippers faced three CHC opponents this weekend and finished
with two wins and one loss. Saturday morning the Clippers traveled to
UConn to face the Columbia team. The Clippers dominated from start to finish to
record a 6-1 victory. The Clippers came out flying in the first and Ross
Burton scored eight minutes into the game on an assist from Kurt Wehr. Four minutes later, the Clippers led 2-0 on a goal from Nick Kruczek on assists from Shayne Catala and Kurt Wehr. Bruce Bedrick added to the lead at the three minute mark on an assist from Devon
Carfi. The Clippers closed the first period with another goal from Sam
Nassetta on an assist from Ross Burton. The Clippers extended their lead to
5-0 on a goal from Sam Nassetta on an assist from Colin McLeod. Bruce
Bedrick closed the scoring for the Clippers on an assist from Mike Diglio
with four minutes gone in the second. The Columbia team scored their only
goal with four minutes left in the second period to close to 6-1. The third
period was completely dominated by the Clippers and even though they
didn't score, they outshot their opponents 17-1. Saturday afternoon the Clippers faced the Greater New Haven Warriors in a 4pm contest. The older and much bigger Warrior team came into the contest looking to intimidate the Clippers but to no avail. The Clippers jumped on top of the Warriors 1-0 on a goal from Sam Nassetta assisted by Nick Kruczek and Colin McLeod three minutes into the game. The pace was hard and fast for the rest of the period with no further scoring. The second period was more of the same as the Warriors tried to force their way on the smaller Clippers, but great goal tending by Scotty Steele and the self discipline of the Clippers kept the Warriors from scoring until the Clippers broke through with three minutes left in the period on a goal from Mike Diglio assisted by Ross Burton and David Beisler. The period ended with the Clippers on top, 2-0. The Clippers scored again with two minutes gone in the third period on a goal from Ross Burton and assisted by Devon Carfi. The outstanding goal tending of Steele and the good defensive play of David Beisler kept the Warrriors at bay and allowed the Clippers to end the day with their second win, 3-0.
Sunday the Clippers traveled to Northford to face their opponents from the day before, the Greater New Haven Warriors. The Warriors, out to avenge the loss from the day before, jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead five minutes into the game. The Clippers battled back with a goal from Kurt Wehr assisted by Nick Kruczek and the vastly improved Shayne Catala as the first period ended 2-1. The Warriors extended their lead to 3-1 four minutes into the second period. Ross Burton scored a goal a minute later to narrow the gap to 3-2 on assists from Colin McLeod and Mike Diglio. The Warriors turned up the pressure and scored two goals late in the period to take a commanding 5-2 lead. The Clippers seemed sluggish from their long weekend but battled back as Nick Kruczek scored late in the second period on assists from Peter Eschenfelder and Shayne Catala to finish the period down 5-3. The Clippers narrowed the gap to 5-4 as Mike Diglio scored with six minutes gone in the third on an assist from Sam Nassetta. The Warriors battled back to take a 6-4 lead with three minutes left in the game. Nick Kruczek got the Clippers back to 6-5 with an unassisted goal with two minutes left in the game, but the Clippers couldn't put the tying goal in.
The weekend was a good test for the young Clippers to play teams that were older and stronger and hopefully will prepare them as they skate into the weekend Thanksgiving Tournament. It should be noted that Mike Diglio had two goals and two assists from his defenseman's spot to give the offense a much needed shot in the arm. The team played much better as a whole, and Coach Burton and Coach Cherneski know that this improvement will continue as the season rolls on.
Article written by Paul Beisler.
ed. SpeedyGreen
