Fans Well-Entertained in Home-Ice Split
Sailors Rebound to beat Mount Forest Friday; Strong in Loss to Walkerton Saturday
The Goderich Sailors have moved out of a last-place tie with Mount Forest with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Patriots.
The Sailors Friday gave up two first-period goals before Ben Gowing's fluke shot beat Patriots' goaltender Kyle Diniz with less than four minutes left in the period.
Brandon Dykxhoorn and Tom Bedour fed Tucker Dorscht to tie the game in the second period, and Brett McGuinness's first of two on the night -- from brothers Scott and Jamie Miller -- put the Sailors ahead 3-2.
Mount Forest tied the game on the power-play with 1:52 left in the second, then McGuinness buried the game-winner -- again from Scott and Jamie Miller -- at the 17:18 mark in the third.
Sailors' Head Coach Todd Goetz says the win was a long time coming.
Goetz says his team gained one point from a shootout loss in Mount Forest a week ago, in which the Sailors bounced back after trailing by three goals.
Goetz says one thing the Sailors have to work on offensively, is building up traffic in front of the other team's net.
He says the Sailors are starting to learn that, and it showed as the game progressed.
Early in the game, Goetz says the Sailors had a couple of shots from the point that the Patriots' netminder saw all the way and was able to stop without much effort.
Goetz says when you have net-presence good things can happen.
Goetz says the Patriots' goaltender had a good game in the first period.
He says the Sailors managed to get into his head as they started crowding the net.
Goetz says much of the secret of the Sailors' success on offence is keyed on toughness and the willingness to sacrifice their bodies.
Goaltender Sheldon Reid Saturday turned in the performance of his young career as a junior as the Sailors fell 3-1 to the first-place Walkerton Hawks at MRC.
Goetz says Reid had a very busy night and is worthy of praise.
Goetz says Reid turned aside 42 of 45 Walkerton shots and proved both to himself and to his teammates that he's capable of playing at the junior level.
Scott Miller scored the Sailors' lone goal on the power-play from Jamie Miller and Brandon Dykxhoorn just before the half-way point of the second period.
Goetz says it took a while for the Sailors but they eventually matched the Hawks move-for-move.
He says the Hawks likely started the game thinking it might have been an easy two points but the Sailors played them hard.
Goetz says most of Walkerton's games this season have been close which is proof that the Hawks are a character team that plays well and is able to adjust.
Goetz says penetrating the opposition zone has been a work in progress all season so far.
Goetz says cutting down on neutral zone turnovers is fundamental and that it's been a struggle for some of his players to adapt to his system of forechecking.
He says when the Sailors forecheck effectively they can create more opportunities on net.
Goetz credits his penalty-killing unit for not only extinguishing a five-minute penalty but actually getting more scoring chances than Walkerton while short-handed.
Brent Alton was tagged for a major for checking from behind in the third period which has also resulted in a two-game suspension.
The Sailors are already missing Austin Spencer, Ben Sloetjes, Thomas Bedour, Chad Woodhouse and Shawn Moore with injuries.
