The Waterloo WildCats surge has hit a snag against the
Renaldo Beach Mohicans as the two teams traded goals
all night to settle for a 3-3 tie. Waterloos offence
was brighter for most of the game, but the Mohicans
earned the tie based on the play of there goaltending
tandem of Jean-Sebastian Giguere and Brent Johnson.
The game looked bleak for the Mohicans, as player
after player was sent to the penalty box, but Giguere
would hold the fort and at 13:22 of the first, rookie
Danny Heatly would pick up the rebound off of an Andy
Delmore shot and put the puck past Jose Theodore in
the WildCats goal.
Waterloo would be quick to respond with the scoring
tandem of Zigmund Palffy and Alexi Yashin combining to
set up Valeri Kamenski 1:24 laster. Kamenski took a
Yashin pass and fired a slap shot over the blocker of
Giguere for his second goal of the season.
The second period was a lot like the first, with
Justin Williams scoring at 14:35 but the WildCats
responded quickly 40 seconds later when Colin White
would send Ron Francis and Jere Lehtinen in on a two
on one. Francis put the puck on Lehtinen’s stick over
the Mohicans defender and Lehtinen found the back of
the net for his second goal of the year.
The Mohicans got a scare late in the period when
WildCats defenceman Scott Stevens fired a slap shot
that struck Giguere hard in the shoulder. The
Mohicans goaltender went down and would be forced to
leave the game. Brent Johnson would enter to face the
WildCats for the final period of play.
The WildCats opened the scoring in the third when
Palffy, Erik Cole and Lehtinen broke in on a three on
one against Hal Gill. Palffy sent a pass to Cole whos
shot was stopped by Johnson but Lehtinen picked up the
rebound and found the back of the net for his second
goal of the game.
Like Waterloo, the Mohicans were quick to answer back,
scoring just over two minutes later. Brian Rolston
sent a pass back to Nick Boynton, whos shot was kicked
aside by Theodore right to the stick of Rick Tocchet,
and the veteran scored his third goal of the year to
even the score at three.
Later in the third Mark Messier took a shot off of the
foot and was forced to leave the game. He will be
assessed later and is currently listed as day to day
with a bruised foot.
Brent Johnson would be impressive in relief, as he
shut down the WildCats for the remainder of the game
including stopping five shots in the extra frame at
the end to preserve a 3-3 tie.
“We should have won that game,” said coGM Paul Connors
after the game, “we were 0 for 10 on the power play
which is inexcusable. Johnson and Giguere really
robbed us of a point out there tonight.”
Waterloo’s next match-up is in New York for a date
with the defending CHL Cup champions. They are
looking to keep there unbeaten streak alive, currently
resting at four games. Mark Messier is not expected
to play as he will be resting his injured foot.
