OHSWEKEN— There are a lot of reasons for Six Nations Midget LL fans to be excited about these days.
Heading into Intertown Southern Counties, Six Nations found their grove as they began their championship quest by winning that first game 4-3 against the Simcoe Warriors 2, before most recently pulling out a 2-1 decision at home against the Tillsonburg Tornadoes.
“We played well defensively,” Six Nations coach Russ Hill said. “Our goalie played great and the kids were happy.”
Looking to build off that opening Intertown Southern Counties win, Six Nations returned to the Gaylord Powless Arena where on Saturday, January 11th, forward Trentyn McCauley scored the eventual winner in their 2-1 win, which improved their playoff record to 2-0.
“We played hard and played good defence,” McCauley said. “They (Tillsonburg) were playing fast.”
An old-fashioned goalies duel was shaping up in the first as Six Nations goalie Terrence Jamieson made several highlight reel saves.
Meanwhile Six Nations had chances including Owyn Smith and McCauely just missing golden opportunities of what was a scoreless game heading to the second.
“We still have to improve in the defensive zone and stay out of the box,” Hill said about what Six Nations still needs to work on.
Early in the second Six Nations generated some early chances as forwards Sterling Smoke and McCauley were robbed from point blank range.
Not long after Six Nations succeeded in killing off a couple of penalties, they had reason to celebrate as Smith used his speed in pulling away and scoring on a breakaway for a 1-0 lead after two periods of play.
In what was a wide open third period, Six Nations had another breakaway as Matthew Hill just missed minutes before Tillsonburg scored to make it a new game.
Showing strong character Six Nations quickly regained the momentum as McCauley skated down the wing and snapped home the game winner 13 seconds after Tillsonburg tied things up.
“I just shot the puck,” McCauley said about the goal. “It’s (getting the winner) pretty exciting.”
Yes sir, these are good times to be a Six Nations Midget LL fan.
