Tigers finally start to gel, winning three of four points

October 30, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner

Despite having many moving parts on their roster throughout the early part of the season, the Tigers look like they are finally starting to come together as they took another three of four possible points last week.

The Tigers started the week on the road for a tilt against Milton and did not disappoint with a 4 – 0 win that put them on a four game winning streak.
“I’ll say that I’ll take nine out of 10 points in any stretch of the schedule, but it’s a work in progress and we have to learn to play with a bit more consistency still,” said assistant coach Tom Milne.

The offence once again clicked to provide plenty of support for goalie Kevin Entmaa, who walked away from the game with a 31 save shutout performance.
Defenceman Eric Williams, who has played very well as of late, got the Tigers on the board first with a power play goal just five minutes into the game.

Before the first period was over, Drake Board added another for the Tigers to give them a 2 – 0 lead going into the second.

With Entmaa doing his job between the pipes, the Tigers continued to add to their lead in the second and third periods, with Curtis Warren and Tyler Boston each adding goals.

Boston, who recently rejoined the team after coming back from an injury, is starting to heat up for the Tigers as he scored his first goal of the season and added two assists.

The win, coupled with Newmarket losing another game, vaulted Aurora into first place in the division for the time being.

“Getting to first place is one thing, staying there is another. You don’t get many opportunities,” said Milne. “When it’s time to put the pedal down, you’ve got to do it.”

Tigers vs. Pickering

The next day the Tigers hosted the Pickering Panthers, a team that the Tigers have been battling in the standings.

In the first period, Aurora was unable to generate any offence despite firing 14 shots at Pickering goalie Steven Dombrosky.

Robert Cammalleri opened the scoring for the Panthers midway through the first period to give the visiting team a 1 – 0 lead.

Pickering would strike again two minutes into the second and the Tigers wouldn’t get on the board until the 16.40 mark, when captain Robert Angiolella blasted the puck top shelf beating Dombrosky’s glove to make it 2 – 1.

Within the next minute, the teams would trade goals again to get the score at 3 – 2 before the end of the second.

Michael Laidley, the Tigers’ current goal scoring leader, netted his tenth of the season to make the score 3 – 2 and give his team a chance for a comeback in the third.

The Tigers came out in the third period looking determined to take the win. Less than one minute in, Dylan Sikura redirected a booming shot from the point by Eric Williams to tie the game. It was Sikura’s fifth goal and 13 point in seven games.

Both teams traded chances throughout the rest of the third, but neither was able to break the 3 – 3 tie, sending the game into sudden death overtime, where Pickering scored to steal the win.

“Games like that where you’re going for first place, we can’t lose focus. In the previous four games we had given up five goals and scored about 25. We’ve got to come prepared and stay focused,” Milne said.

“I think Pickering outworked us for certain parts of the game. We’re looking for the complete 60 minute game.”
Tigers defenceman Kyle Liu said it was a tough loss for his team to swallow.

“We didn’t have the start that we had been getting in the previous few games, so we had a slow start and we were fighting to play our way back into the game,” he said. “Winning isn’t an easy thing, so every game we’ve got to come prepared and ready to play.

“We had a good stretch of games there and it’s too bad it came to an end last night.”

Liu stressed the importance of staying focused and being ready to come out and play on a nightly basis and added that the Tigers have what it takes to remain competitive.

“Everybody is just starting to come together right now, buying into the systems and doing their thing. We had a good stretch of games there that really helped us, so hopefully we can just continue the success,” he said.

“Last night it kind of came to an end, but hopefully we can get back on a roll here and head off with first place.”

Milne said the Tigers will face a hot team this week when the puck drops against the Toronto Junior Canadiens on Friday night at 7.30 p.m. at the ACC.