The Auckland Under 17 Representative Team travelled to Christchurch over the weekend for their third away game in a row, for what promised to be a tough weekend.
Saturday’s game one against Canterbury was hard fought, with both teams finishing period one 0-0. Within the first 90 seconds of the second period, Auckland scored to take the lead 1-0, however this was quickly equalised by Canterbury, who then went on to score a further two goals in the period, bringing the game to 3-1. Auckland managed to score a great goal on power play to bring it back to a one goal game just as the teams hit the locker room for the final period, bringing the score 3-2 to Canterbury.
The third period was just as intense with Canterbury holding a 5-4 lead with 3 minutes to the final buzzer, until an interference call against Canterbury gave Auckland a penalty shot. Auckland converted this penalty to a goal, taking the game to overtime, where just 3 minutes in, Auckland scored the game winning goal.
Sunday’s game two was also a tough one, although the score line suggested otherwise with Auckland finishing the second period up 7-0. Canterbury attempted somewhat of a comeback in period 3, scoring 4 unanswered goals to bring the game to 7-4 in Auckland’s favour. However, Auckland’s dominance in periods one and two were too much, with the final buzzer sounding and awarding Auckland the 7-4 win.
Full game statistics including player data can be found on the New Zealand Midget U17 Ice Hockey League website – http://stats.iihf.com/NZIHF/68/index.html
The team now has a bit of a break until the next games held in Auckland on September 2nd and 3rd against Canterbury.
