Cyclones blow past Meteors
The resiliency of the Fort Erie Meteors will once again be put to the ultimate test Friday night.
The Meteors face a must win situation in St. Marys after dropping a 4-1 decision to the Listowel Cyclones before 1,350 fans at the Leisureplex Wednesday night.
The Meteors are now 1-2 in the Sutherland Cup round-robin playoffs while the Cyclones improved to 2-1. St. Marys is 1-1. The Cyclones and Lincolns wrap up the round-robin Sunday.
The Meteors faced the same situation in Game 7 of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, Golden Horseshoe Conference finals on the road in Caledonia and answered the bell to capture the title.
Fort Erie general manager/coach Nik Passero has no doubt his charges are once again up to the task.
“Backs against the wall, I’ll take this group of 25 guys into battle any day,” Passero said. “Let this sit tonight, practice tomorrow and then we have a job to do.
“There’s no place I’d rather be.”
Veteran Meteors defenceman R.J. Schmidt was also defiant in defeat.
“I think tonight for the first 30 minutes we weren’t the team that we should be and that we’re capable of being. The message in the room is that we all know we can do it. There’s nobody else I’d rather go to war with than these guys and no place I’d rather be,” Schmidt said.
The Meteors once again dug themselves an early hole as the Cyclones jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period and extended the lead to 3-0 early in the second.
“It just took us too long to find our legs, really,” Passero said. “It’s just too long to get going. It’s kind of been our kryptonite a little bit, not always, but when it is, it’s tough.
“We’ve tried different things but in the end it doesn’t happen all the time so it’s tough to put a finger on it. When you start late against teams like this, it’s lethal.”
The Meteors went scoreless in six opportunities with the man advantage, but Passero didn’t seem concerned.
“I know our power play didn’t score but they had a lot of good chances,” he said. “Our power play is doing what they have to do, they just have to put one in the back of the net.”
The Meteors finally found their legs late in the second and dominated the third, finally getting on the board when Chaka-Benjamin Ntumba-Munto banked a shot in from behind the net past Listowel goaltender Dixon Grimes, who was otherwise brilliant.
Passero said the Mets went on the offensive in the final 20 minutes.
“We just pushed them back a little bit,” he said. “They’re so detailed and they skate so well, it gets overwhelming a little bit so we just had to push them back and make them defend a little bit.
“Guys in this league don’t want to defend. No matter how good you are, or how well coached you are, it’s tough to defend so put them on their back foot. I thought we did that better in the late stages of the second and definitely in the third.”
Tanner Dietz ended any hopes of a Fort Erie comeback with an empty net goal at 19:43.
Metscellaneous: Andrew MacNeil, Nolan Stickland, Grant Spada and Aiden Zimmerman did not dress for the Meteors.
STATS PACK
Cyclones 4 Meteors 1
Listowel goaltender Dixon Grimes with 24 saves.
Fort Erie Meteors: Chaka-Benjamin Ntumba-Munto (4).
Listowel Cyclones: Ben MacRobbie (9); Jack O’Donnell (8); Tanner Dietz (7); Chet Hudson (3).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Fort Erie on Dixon Grimes (25), by Listowel on Charlie Burns (24); Power plays: Fort Erie 0/6, Listowel 1/3; Penalty minutes: Fort Erie 20, Listowel 16.
Attendance: 1,350
Up next: The Meteors are at St. Marys Friday and St. Marys visits Listowel Sunday to conclude the round-robin.
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