Titans advance to second place

By Stephen Dafoe

Morinville – A 6-5 victory over the 8-2-1 Seera Stealth Thursday night pushed the Morinville Titans (8-1-3) one rung up the NORALTA Junior C Hockey League standings to second place.

The Titans have remained undefeated through their last nine outings, their single defeat this season being the club’s 4-2 loss to the Beaumont Braves Oct. 10. Thursday night’s victory was the Titans’ fourth consecutive win and their eighth this season.

As they have several times this season, the Titans came out strong in the first period. The titans picked up two goals within the first half of the frame, allowed the Icemen to answer the goals by the closing minutes of the period, but bounced back with two quick goals to end the period 4-2 in their favour.

Despite the Titans’ two-goal lead at the beginning of the middle frame, the Iceman managed to close the gap by one by the end of the period. The Titans’ only goal of the period was scored by Yanick Forcade and bookended by two from the Icemen to give the second period a 5-4 lead in Morinville’s favour.

Feeling the pressure on and the game separated by one goal, the Iceman put the pressure on Morinville’s net and brought the game to a 5-5 tie with less than six minutes remaining on the clock.

Not wanting to return home with a single point for a tie, Christopher Johnston, assisted by nick Borle and Allen White picked up the game-winning goal at 4:03.

Although the Titans spent double the Icemen’s time in the penalty box, they racked up a disciplined eight minutes during the first and second periods and managed to stay out of the box for the duration of the final frame.

It is an exercise the club will need to repeat Tuesday night when they take on the 10-1-0 Edmonton Avalanche, Noralta’s top-ranked club who have been burying teams under an avalanche of goals.

The Avalanche have averaged 8.33 goals per game this season while giving up a mere 2.33 goals per game in their 11 outings this season. As such, the Titans will need to stay out of the penalty box.

The Titans played a road game against the 4-5-0 Millet Lightning Sunday night. Results were not available by MorinvilleNews.com deadline.

The club returns to home ice Sunday night for a rematch against the Beaumont Braves, the only club to defeat them so far this season. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at the Ray McDonald Sports Centre.