Squirt Minors February Summary
The Clippers' Squirt Minors opened the month of February with split
against two tough opponents. On Saturday, Feb. 4, the Clippers hosted
the Darien A1 squad made up of both '95s and '96s. The Clippers, led by
goals from Adam Shea and Nick Waznia, maintained a 2-1 lead going into
the final period of play, however, the Darien team came back to score
two unanswered goals to pull out a 3-2 victory. Taggart Corriveau and
Evan Sliker assisted on the two Clippers goals. The next day, the
Squirt Minors traveled to Simsbury to play the CT Lazers Squirt Minor
team. The Clippers played a gritty game (under MBHL rules including
checking) and held off a late Lazers rush to come away with a 4-3 road
victory. Waznia led the charge with two goals. Corriveau also scored.
Sliker (2), Shea, Adamsons and Kevin Landau earned assists.The following weekend, the Clippers had only one game, hosting the Wonderland Wizards from Bridgeport. Shea took passes from Waznia and Mario Marena to open the scoring with less than a minute to go in the first period. Wonderland scored two goals in the second period to take the lead 2-1. However, in the third period, the Clippers' exploded for five goals. Corriveau (2), Adamsons, Matt Trevethan and Matt Bucher tallied for the Clippers. For Trevethan, it was his first goal of the season. Sliker (3), Waznia (2), Shea and Trevethan added assists during the outburst. The Clippers then cruised to the 6-2 victory.
Over the Presidents' Day holiday, the Clippers traveled to Springfield, MA to participate in the MassConn Presidents' Day tournament. The first game was against the Minuteman Flames. The game was a close affair with both teams offering up scoring chances. The Flames ultimately prevailed, defeating the Clippers 3-2. Adam Aresco and Waznia scored the Clippers' goals. Christian DiDonato and Shea added assists in the loss. In the second game of the tournament, the Clippers played the Hudson Valley Polar Bears, made up of '95s and '96s. The Clippers were able to skate with the Hudson Valley team for two periods; however the Polar Bears pulled away and skated to a 5-2 win. Shea scored both goals for the Clippers with Aresco and Sliker adding assists. The third game unfortunately was the final game for the Clippers as they matched up against the Long Island Edge. The Clippers needed to not only defeat the Edge to advance but they also had to win each period. The faster Edge skaters would have none of that, jumping out to an early lead and never looked back as they powered to an impressive 6-0 win.
This past weekend (February 25 and 26) the Squirt Minors needed to bounce back after the tough Presidents' Day tournament. On Saturday, the Clippers hosted the South Windsor Squirt B squad, made up of '95s and '96s. While the South Windsor skaters were considerably bigger, the home Clippers were able to out-skate them at every turn. During this 5-0 victory, the Clippers dominated every facet of the game; offense, defense, goaltending and special teams. The Corriveau (3G), Sliker (1G, 2A) and Shea (2A) line accounted for eight points in the win. A Waznia to Adamsons connection accounted for the other score. Al Rogers again displayed cat-quick reflexes en-route to his ninth shutout of the season. On Sunday, the Clippers traveled to play the Mid-Fairfield Squirt A T2 team, also made up of '95s and '96s. Once the Mid-Fairfield team took a 1-0 lead, the Clippers kicked into gear and scored the next five goals. Corriveau and Sliker led the way with two goals and two assists apiece. Waznia tallied the other goal from DiDonato and Marena. Shea also added two assists on the day. Mid-Fairfield mounted a comeback scoring three times in the final six minutes to pull within one goal. However, tough defense and goaltending by Al Rogers (34 saves) preserved the 5-4 road victory.
Article written by Karl Adamsons.
