Krieger Leads Minor Bantam Cyclones to the Alliance Final

The Chatham-Kent Cyclones Minor Bantam ‘AAA’ team defeated the Cambridge Hawks in the Alliance Semi-Finals to advance to the Alliance championships.

The Minor Bantam Cyclones will await the outcome of the Brantford and Elgin Middlesex series to see who they will face off against in the Alliance Finals.

Over the past two weekends the Cyclones defeated the Cambridge Hawks in another series of close games. The boys have proven they can play with any team in the league and their never give up, team first attitude has vaulted them past their opponents in tight games.

Game 1 was played in the historic Galt Arena in Cambridge and would see the Chatham-Kent Cyclones take the first game of the series 3-2. Ross Krieger opened the scoring for the Cyclones on the powerplay from Kyle Fife and Nick Delyzer. Blair Derynk would get the second goal of the game shorthanded from Kyle Dawson. Luke Van Rycheghem scored the game winner on a nice pass from Brady Pataki as he exited the penalty box behind the Cambridge defense.

Game 2 and 3 would be back on home ice at Memorial Arena. Game 2 saw another one goal victory for the Cyclones winning 2-1. Phillip Clarke opened the scoring for the Cyclones from Brendan Harrogate and Brady Pataki. Kyle Fife would get the game winner on the power play from Harrogate and Delyzer.

Game 3 marked the first loss for the Minor Bantam Cyclones of the playoffs but not before the team showed their resiliency, making a late third period rush. Each team would trade goals in the first with Ross Krieger scoring for the Cyclones from Nick Delyzer. Cambridge then scored three unanswered before Brady Pataki blasted one by the Cambridge net minder late in the third from Harrogate and Nichols. A minute later Blair Derynck would steal the puck at the Cambridge blue line and rush in for their third goal. That would be as close as the Cyclones would get before Cambridge potted an empty netter to take the game 5-3.

Game 4 was back at the Galt Arena where the Minor Bantams were looking to put away the Hawks and move on to the finals. Through two periods of play the score remained locked at 0-0. Cambridge got on the board early in the third on a powerplay and that looked to be all the goals that would be scored in the game. Showing all opponents there is no give up in the Cyclones, Ross Krieger scored on the powerplay with three minutes left in the game to tie things up. It looked like the game would end in a tie as sudden death overtime would be fruitless for both teams until Krieger lifted a nice backhand over the Cambridge netminder with 9 seconds left to make the stands erupt into cheers at the old Galt Arena.