Bruins showing grit late in season
Roger Varley
In their last eight games, the Uxbridge Bruins have won six, including two wins last week against the Schomberg Cougars and the Clarington Eagles.
The game against the league-leading Eagles at the arena last Friday featured a first period of pure, fast-paced hockey with the only stoppages in play coming on icing calls. The only penalty came at the buzzer, with the call going against Clarington.
The Bruins opened the scoring midway through the second period with Colin Glecoff assisted by Tanner Ryan and Ryan Shier. Ryan then notched the second goal after a long pass from Tyler Laita put him in the clear. As the period wound down, Shier added a third, assisted by Ryan and Andrew Tsotso.
Clarington came back in the third, scoring just 30 seconds into the stanza and then drawing within one at the midway mark. However, the Bruins held them off for the remainder of the game. Late in the third, Darin Bain was taken heavily into the boards, head first, from a check from behind. However, the trainer said after the game that Bain was okay.
The Cosmos was hard-pressed to name a player of the game for Uxbridge since there were so many outstanding performances, but settled on Shier. Charlie VanHaverbeke received the nod for Clarington.
The previous night, a week after the Cougars downed them 4-1, the Uxbridge squad went to Schomberg for a return game and came away with a 4-0 victory. Tristan Vedovat-Leite scored what proved to be the winning goal in the first period, assisted by Glecof.
Jordan Bonner added another in the second, with Shier assisting, and then came two more in the third. The first was scored by Jack Kemp, assisted by Nolan Winter and A.J. Brennen, and the second by Bain, with assists going to Lucas Marshall and Tsotso.
The Bruins now face a tough week. They were scheduled to meet Clarington again Tuesday night and then face the Georgina Ice at the arena tomorrow (Friday) night at 7:45 p.m. The second-place Ice are on an 18-game winning streak. Then it's back to Schomberg on Saturday.