Bruins win some, lose some over holidays
Roger Varley
In a busy schedule over the Christmas-New Year's holidays, the Uxbridge Bruins came away with three wins and three losses, with 18 different players earning points along the way.
On Friday, Dec. 20, the Bruins hosted the powerhouse Clarington Eagles at the arena. The Bruins managed to keep close to the league-leading Eagles, who have lost only four games this season. With Clarington leading 4-3 in the final period, the Bruins pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker in an attempt to tie the score but the Eagles potted an empty-netter with just seconds remaining.
The following night, the Bruins welcomed the Little Britain Merchants - and Santa Claus - for a rare Saturday night home game and made up for the previous night's loss with a 6-1 drubbing of the visitors. On Sunday, Dec. 22, the Bruins played their third game in three days, travelling to Caledon to meet the hapless Golden Hawks, who have won only two games so far this season. The Bruins showed no pity, downing the Hawks 8-3.
The following Sunday, after a week's rest, the Uxbridge squad visited the Ice in Georgina and received a nasty welcome as Georgina thumped them 11-5.
In the first game of the new year, the Bruins found themselves struggling as the Port Perry LumberJacks took an early lead and built on it to finish the second period ahead 5-2. Uxbridge scored early in the third, but couldn't keep Port Perry off the board. Eventually, with the LumberJacks leading 6-4, a Port Perry penalty led the Bruins to pull the goalie to mount a six-on-four attack, but the LumberJacks ended the scoring with an empty-netter.
And finally, on Sunday, the local lads travelled to Little Britain, where they scored two power-play goals and two short-handed markers on their way to a 5-1 victory.
Over the course of the six games, 18 players shared in the scoring. Evan Gilbert led the parade, scoring seven goals and adding two assists, with Ryan Shier close behind with six goals and one assist. Captain Tanner Ryan had three goals and five assists, while Nolan Winter, with only one goal, made up for it with seven assists.
The Bruins return to action tomorrow (Friday) night at the arena when they host Caledon at 7:45 p.m., before heading to Little Britain again on Saturday for a 7:30.p.m. game.
All-Star Game: Four Uxbridge Bruins were in the lineup on Dec. 28 for the All-Star game between the PJHL's Orr and Tod Divisions, held at the Scugog arena in Port Perry.
Tanner Ryan, Jack Kemp, Tyler Laita and Tristan Vedovat-Leite all gave a good account of themselves, with Kemp drawing an assist on the Orr team's second goal of the first period. Jordan Bonner was also named to the team, but did not play because of an injury.
The Orr side came out of the first period with a 2-0 lead, despite being outshot 25-10. At one point in the period, Team Tod was outshooting their opponents 12-2.
The second period belonged to Tod, who scored three unanswered goals. At this point, they had outshot Orr 42-20.
In the third period, there was no scoring but both Ryan and Vedovat-Leite both took huge hits from their opponents. After his crunching, Ryan picked up the puck and hit the post with his shot. The final shots on goal: Tod 51-Orr 25.