Squirt Major Weekend Report
The Clippers’ Squirt Major team came off their road trip to Toronto to play three games this weekend, two against CHC Tier 1 rivals. Overall, they finished the weekend with one win, one loss and one tie. On Saturday the Squirts Majors hosted the Greenwich Blues T1 Majors. Even though the Clippers opened the scoring with an Evan Sliker powerplay goal, assisted by Taggart Corriveau and Nick Adamsons, the Blues scored the next three goals going into the second period. The Red Line again scored with Sliker taking feeds from Corriveau and Adamsons to beat the Blues goalie. Four minutes later, the Clippers tied the game at 3-3. This time Adamsons was the beneficiary of nice puck-work from Sliker and Matt Bucher. Early in the third, however, the Greenwich skaters went ahead 4-3. It looked like the score would stand when the Clippers went to work. With less than 2:00 minutes to go Corriveau worked the puck to Sliker behind the net; who then slid the puck to Adamsons, camped outside the crease, who slammed the puck past the goaltender to tie the game at 4-4. Just 0:08 seconds later Corriveau beat the Blues defense to give the Clippers a 5-4 lead. With less then a minute to go, the Blues pulled their goaltender in favor of a sixth attacker. The Clipper defense held tight, turning away the Greenwich advances. Adamsons then took a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated past a defender and slid the puck into the empty net to provide the insurance goal, his third of the game. Alex Ment made twelve saves in goal to earn the hard fought 6-4 victory.
On Sunday morning, the Squirts traveled to Northford to play the CT Wolves. This game however, was different. The Clippers lacked the energy they had the day before. Every facet of the game was dominated by the host Wolves. The Clippers did not score until 2:00 minutes to go in the game, when Bucher skated the puck down the right wing and fed a beautiful cross-ice pass to David Piekut, who redirected the pass past the Wolves goaltender. The final score had the Wolves winning 6-1. The one bright spot for the Clippers was the goaltending of Brendan Pelletier, who made 38 saves in taking the loss. Without his efforts the deficit could have been wider.
Later Sunday evening, the Clippers traveled to Westchester, NY to play the Vipers ’96 team. Not wanting to take a second loss in the day, the Clippers worked extremely hard defensively. Bucher opened the scoring for the Clippers when he took the puck at his blue line, skated past several Viper defenders, and beat the goalie on the “short-side.” Early in the second period, the Vipers tied the game at 1-1. However, two minutes later Adamsons took the puck off the boards and broke free to score past the Viper goalie. The Vipers took exception and scored the next two goals to take a 3-2 lead going into the final period. In the third period, each team had their chances but the goaltenders kept the puck out of the nets. Just like a day earlier, the Clippers had their backs up against the wall. With about 0:45 seconds to goal, the Clippers pulled their goaltender to gain a sixth skater. With approximately 0:08 seconds remaining, Adamsons took control of a loose puck just outside the Viper blue line and brought the puck in wide on the right wing. He was able to pass the puck to the opposite goal post, where with 0:02 left in the game, Corriveau promptly slammed the puck into the goal to tie the game at 3-3. Ment again was in goal; and made some key saves to earn the tie.
Article written by Karl Adamsons.
