Minto suffered a loss on a close game with Seaforth
Game #3 of the Hodges Division championship round between Minto and Seaforth was played on Sunday, March 21st in Seaforth.
Minto got off to a good start and managed to get on the scoreboard in the first 30 seconds. The first goal was scored by Ryan Litt unassisted after he made a rush on Seaforth's defence. Seaforth capitalized and scored two minutes later to tie the game. Minto would not stop at that and Noah Aitken made some moves on the seaforth opposition and took a good wrist shot to get Minto's second goal of the game. Seaforth ended the scoring of the first period less than a minute later to tie the game 2-2. This game was turning out to be a good battle.
Minto was the only team to score in the second period when Parker Miller scored unassisted to put the team up again in this game. The team defended their zone for most of the second period and for the first five minutes of the third period. Unfortunately, Seaforth was able to materialize on a kicked in goal that the referee apparently missed to tie the score again. Seaforth began crashing Minto's net after getting momentum from this call in their favour. Seaforth went up one regardless of having their player clearly in the crease to be in the lead for the first time in this game.
Minto gathered themselves together and showed that they would not let these calls put them down and came back with three goals in less than 30 seconds. The fourth goal was scored by Parker Miller and assisted by Drew Bell. The fifth goal scored by Josh Gray with assists by Conner Rowley and Ryan Helmka. Minto's final goal was scored by Josh Gray with the assist by Leah Herrfort. Minto held the score of 6-4 until the last 4 minutes of the game when Minto's defence was hooked and pulled down at the end boards allowing a loose Seaforth player to gain possession of the puck to score to come within one goal. Shortly after this missed penalty, Minto was given a tripping penalty which put them in a short handed situation and a struggle to keep the lead in this game.
Seaforth continued to crash Minto's netminder and with lack of whistles from the ref, Seaforth was able to tie up the game with 2:32 left in the game. Minto was loosing their momentum quickly in this game and was unable to hold on and Seaforth put another one in on a scamble around the net with only 24 seconds left in the game. Minto did not have enough time to get one back. This was the toughest loss this team has had to experience this season.
Game #4 will be played in Palmerston on Tuesday, March 23rd at 6 p.m. They will need to win this game to move on to game #5 to win this series and championship. Unfortunately the game will be played in Seaforth but the league has promised to have neutral refereeing for the fifth game. Good luck team.
