Lightning bantam selects win, lose and draw

The Lightning bantam selects faced the Spitfires at Victoria Park Nov. 4 with some key players missing in action.

The Lightning played an extremely disciplined game. A tight-checking first period ended without a goal being scored. In the 2nd period Brampton scored the only goal adding some pressure to the short Lightning bench. Early in the 3rd period Brampton increased their lead to 2-0 and it looked like time and hope were waning away for the Lightning until Kristian McMillan ripped a shot through the Brampton goalie with 2:14 left to play.

The table was set and immense pressure by the Lightning in the final two minutes provided only tense and exciting hockey to watch as they came up short at the buzzer.

Lightning rookie goaltender Aaron Goldstein kept us in the game with some spectacular saves. Final score Spitfires 2, Lightning 1

Tie with Sharpshooters

The Lightning faced the Brampton Sharpshooters Nov. 10 at Lloyd Wilson arena. With lots of traffic in front of the net the Brampton squad squeaked in a goal to take the early first period lead.

Brampton added another in the 2nd period making the score 2-0 until the Lightning fought back in the third when Andrew Marchione scored his 1st goal of the season, on a great second effort depositing his own rebound up in the top shelf. Kristian McMillan tied the game for the Lightning with a wicked slapshot from just outside the blue line which surprised the Brampton net minder.

Hard and disciplined work by the Lightning players resulted in a 2-2 tie. Other noteworthy efforts came from blueliner Matthew Pullicino and net minder Jamie Corbett.

Goldstein earns shutout

The Lightning faced the Brampton Sharpshooters Nov. 18 at Victoria Park. This was an extremely exciting, fast-paced end-toend hockey game. Some great defensive coverage by Alex Filice and Matt Pullicino, coupled with tenacious fore checking by Adam Farren and Ben Tasson kept the Sharpshooters at bay.

Early in the 1st period Jacob Hogan finished off a beautiful three way passing play from Kyle Carberry and Alex Paglia to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.

Mid way through the second period Lightning defenceman Grayson Bernard sent a rocket past the Sharpshooter netminder just under the crossbar but it recoiled out just as quickly because of the tight new mesh on the nets, and the goal was missed by the men in stripes.

In the 3rd period with pin-point accuracy, Jacob Hogan scored his second of the game into the empty net, assisted by Adam Scott. The diminutive Lightning goalie Aaron Goldstein played an amazing game, using his catlike reflexes, pouncing on rebounds, even taking one off the mask (Johnny Bower style) to make a save, thwarted every one of the Sharpshooters for his first shutout of the season. Final score: Lightning 2, Sharpshooters 0.

The game demonstrated solid two-way team effort on behalf of everyone, including key and timely coaching decisions by Doug Farren and his staff.