Squirt Minors Weekend Report
The Clipper Squirt Minors entered the holiday break with a Saturday
(December 17) double-header against two formidable opponents.Saturday afternoon, the Clippers hosted NEEHL rival Northern Mass Cyclones Squirt 96. This game was a closely contested, tightly-officiated affair. The game featured 23 penalties leading to 48 minutes of special teams play. The Clippers penalty killing was flawless as they efficiently killed off every penalty, including a six minute stretch of being short-handed two skaters in the second period. Resulting from the penalties, neither team was able to get into an steady offensive flow. The Clippers opened the scoring with two minutes to go in the first period when Adam Aresco took feeds from Evan Sliker and Nick Waznia to score his first goal of the season. The score remained 1-0, Clippers, until late in the second period when Taggart Corriveau scored on a power-play. Matt Trevethan assisted on the Corriveau goal. The Clippers did not need another goal as their team defense played strong allowing seven shots on goal for the game, only three shots in the final two periods. When a Cyclones' shot did make it through the defense, Clipper's Al Rogers (eight saves) held his ground to preserve the shut-out. With the 2-0 victory, the Clippers maintained their second place standing in the NEEHL Squirt Minor division.
Later Saturday evening, the Clippers traveled to Greenwich to play the Blues Squirt A team. As in the first game of the day, the Clippers' team defense stepped-up its intensity, not allowing the home Blues any quality scoring opportunities. The Clippers got the only goal it needed in the first period when taking a face-off in the Blues end, Corriveau rifled the puck past a surprised Blues' goaltender. Later in the first, Aresco banged home a rebound of shots from Waznia and Corriveau, to score a powerplay goal. The Clippers extended their lead early in the second period. While short-handed, Corriveau stole a Blues' pass, skated the length of the ice to score. Less than a minute later, Waznia, closed out the goal scoring when he took a pass from Nick Adamsons to put the Clippers up 4-0. Throughout the balance of the second and third periods, the Clipper defense and goaltending shutdown the home team. Goalie Rogers again was steady in the nets, as he recorded his second shut-out of the day.
Article written by Karl Adamsons.
