Canandaigua 8 - Penfield 7

April 29, 2014 - In their fourth one goal game of the season, Canandaigua finally felt the winning side of the equation with an 8-7 win at Penfield. Canandaigua had previously lost in overtime to Churchville-Chili and Penn Yan with a single goal loss to Fairport in regulation. Overall, the 7-4 Braves have had 7 of 11 games decided by two points or less.

The Braves played the game strong in the first half and played a stall game for significant chunks of the second half, attempting to hold off the strong Penfield offense. The Patriots never gave up and fought hard until the final minutes. Canandaigua spent the majority of the second half possessing the ball and kept the ball away from the Patriots. A number of times, Canandaigua took 2-3 minutes off the clock before Penfield gained possession only to quickly score. The Braves led for nearly the entire game with Penfield only tying the game once (in the fourth quarter) and only for less than seven minutes.

Canandaigua dominated the opening quarter. They scored three goals while holding the Patriots scoreless. The opening goal was scored four and a half minutes into the contest on a fast-break for the Braves. Eric Munn found Ben Smith-Wilcox open for the goal. Less than one minute later Connor Hulme scored the first of his five goals for the Braves. Hulme was a force to be reckoned with for the Braves. His first goal was scored when he pulled his defenseman out to the left side of the cage and beat him one-on-one with a shot to the top shelf. The final goal of the quarter with scored on a feed from behind the cage from Mitchell Schaefer to Hulme on the left flat. The Braves led 3-0 going into the second quarter.

Penfield finally got on the board 15:10 into the game with an impressive goal from Ryan Fulton. Mitch Standera started with the ball on the left side of GLE. He drove in and was stopped by the Braves defense. Fulton drove from the opposite corner and caught the low ball before slipping to his knees and finishing with a low shot past Luke MacNeil. MacNeil played the first half before having to come for an injury. He finished with 5s/3ga for the Braves. The Braves won the next face off and called a time out. Munn then took the ball straight to the goal from the midfield line for the only Braves goal of the quarter. Munn`s goal was the first of three scored right after a timeout in the second quarter. The next seven minutes saw back and forth offense from both sides without any goals. Penfield scored the second goal with 1:12 remaining when long-stick Jacob O`Connor scored. The ball began at midfield after a time out. O`Connor got the ball across the midfielder line and all the way to GLE before he cut back and scored from point blank range. The third Patriot goal was also scored after a timeout. Canandaigua called a time-out with 0:08 remaining during a dead ball with Penfield having the ball. Due to a miscommunication, Max Spaan started with the ball on the outside and gave it to Fulton. He had walked to the crease without being picked up and scored with 0:03 remaining in the half. Fulton`s goal made it a one goal game (4-3) at halftime.

Canandaigua opened the quarter with Schaefer feeding Brian Feldman across the crease and Feldman finishing with a bounce shot. Two minutes later the Braves extended their lead back to three goals for the second time. Hulme drove from behind the cage and finished with a rising shot the corner. Penfield fought back and scored two back to back goals to bring the game within a single goal. In one of the most impressive offensive actions of the game Carter Jordan scored with an unassisted drive at the cage. Canandaigua`s defense was impressive throughout the contest and repeatedly turned back the Penfield offense or forced them into poor position. Jordan took advantage of being pushed out of a right handed shooting lane by switching his stick to his left hand and finishing off-handed for the goal. Two minutes later Penfield scored a man-up goal with Jake Sproule assisting Standera. Canandaigua scored their own man-up goal just 1:08 later with a cross crease pass from Smith-Wilcox to Hulme. The final goal of the quarter was scored with only 0:04 remaining on the clock. By this point, Canandaigua was deep into their stall. They won the face off after their goal at 2:46 and held control while waiting for the final shot. With approximately 0:15 remaining they moved to the cage but a missed pass went out of the top of the restraining line. By the time they had touched the ball it was at the midfield line and Penfield was awarded the ball at midfield. The Patriots pushed straight to the goal with Brian Wall assisting Fulton for his third goal. The game was still within a single goal (7-6) going into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter saw the Braves taking time off the clock and frantic attempts at the cage from Penfield. The Braves won the face off and took three minutes of the clock to open the quarter. The first time the Patriots saw the ball it took them less than twenty seconds to score. Wall tied the game with a side-arm shot to the corner after a cross-crease feed from Jordan. The Patriots tied the game for the first and only time of the contest with 9:09 remaining. The Braves then began shooting to try to take the lead back. The took seven shots (three on cage) before Tim Bay fed Hulme from behind the cage for the game winning goal. Penfield won the final face of and had approximately two minutes of offensive time (with only two shots) before Canandaigua got the ball back and held on for the final 0:38.

In the cage for the second half for Canandaigua was Ethan Lincoln. He finished with three recorded saves. Defenseman Joe Eddinger finished with six ground balls to lead the Braves. Munn added another four to the count. Penfield's Liam Guiton finished with seven saves. Face off midfielder James Stoler finished with seven ground balls to lead the Patriots.