Nov 30, 2008 | dmoran | 813 views
Juvenile Rams on Fire!
After starting the season 0-3, the Rams have rebounded to go 6-1-1 over the next 8 games. They have rediscovered the scoring touch from all 3 lines and received solid goal tending from Brett Aitken and his back up Krystal Corley. This past weekend saw the Rams roll up a convincing 9-0 win in Teeswater Friday night and followed that up with another huge win - that 10-1 against Clifford. The true marker though would be the match up with the Arthur Vipers Sunday afternoon at home. They had already suffered 2 lopsided losses to the Vipers just a few weeks ago.
True to form, the Vipers came out flying. They were able to a 1-0 lead on a power play marker early in the first period. Brett Aitken had already made several nice saves before Arthur finally managed to grab the go ahead tally. Despite being outshot early in the period the Rams started to regain the margin of play. Evan Shortreed and Ian Corley both had excellent chances as they took turns setting up each other only to be turned away by the Viper netminder. It was Jordan Barber who managed to tie things up as he took a nice pass from Justin Coburn and Matt Ostrander just inside the blue line. He waltzed in and burried a nice shot at 2:16 of the first to knot the score at 1's. The "mucker" line of Aaron Capell, Roice McDougall Lamont and Tristan Rae created several great scoring chances late in the period with some tenacious forechecking. The Rams picked up where they left off in the 2nd period and were rewarded a few minutes in when Ryan Pinder off a strong rush into the Viper zone, feathered a perfect pass right on the tape of Tristan Raes stick. Rae made no mistake and gave the Rams their first lead over the Vipers all year. The Rams continued to storm the net and were rewarded with 2 more quick goals. First Mitchell Ferguson drove deep into the Arthur zone, and fed a nice pass over to Shortreed, then to Corley, then finally to linemate JD Pinder who bulged the twine for the 3-1 lead. On an ensuing face-off deep in the Ram zone, Colin Moran ducked under an oncoming Viper hit, flipping the forward head over heals to the ice. Minutes later Jordan Barber made it 4-1 on a terrifice solo effort off a hard forecheck. The Vipers did respond with only two minutes to play in the 2nd to end the period down only 4-2. Coming out after the flood, Brett Aitken made perhaps the saving play of the game as he slid across to make a brilliant toe save with the Rams playing shorthanded to start the period. After killing the penalty the Rams got an insurance marker as Mitchell Ferguson had a cannonating blast rebound out to a wide open Roice McDougall-Lamont who made no mistake to give the Rams a 5-2 lead. Full credit to the Rams continued to roll 3 solid lines for the remainder of the game along with solid defence and goaltending to end up with a well deserved 5-2 win over the Vipers (only their 2nd loss of the season). Up next for the Rams is the Silver Stick in Lucknow next weekend where they will be in tough after being bumped up to play in the "B" division.