Mites Battle to Split with Wild
Submitted By Scott Welsh on Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The Athens Mites returned to action
this past Sunday after a very long layoff from competition as they
traveled to Charleston to face the West Virginia Wild for a double
header. The Mites were hungry for a little revenge after dropping
two games to the Wild earlier in the season. Both games were very
exciting coming down to the final seconds in each to determine the
winner.
It took the Mites a few minutes to
knock the rust off as they found themselves in a one goal hole in the
first period. Wyatt Wood got the scoring started for the Mites as
he snuck between the legs of the opposing goalie. The Wild scored
again, but the Mites answered back with a goal from Dominic Norris.
The slugfest continued going back and forth with
Photo: Athens Mites celebrate their victory over West Virginia WildJackson Kohn (assisted from Henry Welsh) keeping pace with the Wild. Every time the Wild scored, the Mites would answer. To knot the game up, Norris scored two more goals to complete his first career hat trick. He then added a fourth goal off a bank shot that put the mites up for the first time in the game with under a minute to play. To cap off an exciting game, the Wild freed a player on a breakaway. AJ Sammons stonewalled the shot to preserve the 6-5 win.
In the rematch, Bostic Eason got his first taste of life between the pipes. The Mites were showing a little sign of fatigue (due to having only 2 bench players against the Wild’s 10) as they quickly fell behind 3-0. But along with Eason, Mason Michigan & Moss Woods, the Mites said “NO MORE!” and did not allow another goal. This game saw AJ Sammons skating out and handling the scoring with two unassisted goals. The Mites put on a crazed flourish at the end to try and tie the game but were not able to light the lamp and fell 3-2.
The Mites are back in action at home on Sunday for a double header against The Easton Penguins. First puck drops at 7:30 (yes a.m.) and the second game starting at 10:15. See you there!