The Bancroft IDA/Red Eagle Campground Midget girls’ hockey team advances to the second round of the Lower Lakes Female Hockey League with a win loss win record against West Northumberland Wild.
Game 1 on Saturday Feb. 3 had the Jets trailing The Wild for most of the game until Bancroft’s Katy Funk scored two minutes into the third and again with 2:30 remaining in the game followed with Gabby Burnett netting the insurance two minutes later. Final score was 4-2 thanks to two goals each from Funk and Burnett.
Bolstered by their strong start in Game 1 the Wild showed up ready to play in Game 2 at their home rink in Cobourg on Monday Feb. 5. West Northumberland took the lead midway through the first with their first of five goals and held onto it beating Bancroft 5-4. Bancroft goals were scored by Julianna Croskery Kendra Bandy Katy Funk and Victoria Shpikula.
With the season on the line the Bancroft Jets finally rediscovered their game in Apsley on Wednesday Feb 7. Goaltender Chloe Burnett began her shutout by making a huge save in the early seconds that rallied the confidence of her team. Bancroft didn’t turn back from that point with a decisive 7-0 win. Goal scoring was shared among six players including Gabby Burnett with two and one goal each to Paige Billings Katy Funk Olivia Martin Victoria Shpikula and Jordan Brownlee. Captain Sara Switzer led the team in points with three assists.
Good luck ladies in the next round against the Napanee Crunch.

On Thursday evening the Bantam girls team travelled to Keene to face the Otonabee Wolverines for their first playdown game.
The girls skated hard throughout the game and were rewarded with a 4-1 win.
The first period was scoreless for both teams. Early in the second Haley Goulet started off the Jets with a beautiful snapshot into the back of the Wolverines net assisted by Kennedy Croskery.
Hannah McMann followed with a wicked wrist shot goal bouncing the puck off the right post and into the net. Emma Neuman got the assist. The third period saw the Jets add two more goals to the scoreboard in the last minute of play. Beth Brownlee unassisted used her speed and puck handling skills to deke her way through to the opponent’s end and raised the puck over the goalie’s right shoulder. With three seconds remaining on the clock McMann scored her second and the final goal of the game with great positional play and a precision pass from Goulet.
Bella Smolen had a great game in net and shut down the Wolverines for the Jets.
The team will continue their playdown run with games this Saturday evening in Peterborough and Sunday here at home at the NHCC at 3 p.m. against the Peterborough Ice Kats. Come out and cheer the Jets on!
Submitted by Linda Goulet

The Highland Storm Pepper Mill Steak and Pasta House Dollo’s Foodland Bantam A’s began round two of the playoffs last Saturday travelling to Wasaga Beach to take on the Stars in a best of five quarterfinal series. Nate Miscio in net for the Storm made some splendid saves early including a sweet left pad save during a scramble just outside his crease.
Down a couple of their regular players the Storm showed confidence from their opening series win against the Durham Crusaders strong positional play killing off penalties and effective forechecking particularly by Mathias Lee Zach Davis Tyson Clements and Cody Switzer in the first period.
Desi Davies put the Storm on the scoresheet first when the puck came out from behind the Stars net and he put a rocket over the shoulder of the Stars netminder. Davies added an assist in the second period setting up Hunter Arnott on an almost identical pass from behind the net to give the Storm a 2-0 lead.
The Stars winners of their opening series against Shelburne Wolves certainly were not going to give up without a fight and made it 2-1 just after Storm captain Jackson Gill made a highlight reel diving save to thwart a Stars player from putting the puck into an empty net. The Stars tied the game near the end of the second period however the 2-2 tie heading into the third was definitely not an indication of the Storm’s game dominance over the opening two periods; that point came to light as the boys came out of the dressing room and scored seven unanswered goals in the third period for a solid 9-2 win.
Third period goal scorers were two each by Brenden Coumbs Tyson Clements and Jackson Gill and singles by Cody Switzer and Davies giving Desi the hat trick and a multi-point night. Game 2 of this series is on Saturday in Wasaga with the Storm returning home for a game 3 tilt on Sunday in Haliburton at 5 p.m.
Submitted by Gord Hoenow

The Highlander and Smolen Family Dentistry Midget team began the second round of playoffs Sunday Feb. 11 in Minden against the Shelburne Wolves and captured a 6-3 win. It was a fast-paced action-packed game from the start.
Both teams energetically came out with an aggressive attitude to win.
It was the Wolves that got on the scoreboard early in the first. A couple minutes later the Storm answered back. Jacob Haedicke started the rush Morissette then chipped the puck off to Lucas Haedicke he manoeuvred nicely past the defence and snapped in the first Storm goal. With that the Storm turned it up a notch kept it clean and scored another three goals before the first period buzzer.
The Storm dominated in the Wolves’ end. O’Neill and Patterson-Smith fed Owen Smith and he flipped it over the goalie making it a 2-1 game. Next Flood rushed in from the neutral zone and nailed it through the five hole. Then it was give-and-go action around the net that found Boice open and he widened the gap to 4-1.
The first penalty came with seconds left in the period. The Wolves took advantage of the power play at the start of the second period with a goal. Shortly after the Wolves got lucky with a rolling puck that found the Storm’s net now 4-3. The pushing and shoving began to escalate to the Storm’s benefit and they captured two power plays goals. The Storm’s momentum grew and they attacked the net. It was shots from Boice and Owen Smith that made it a 6-3 game. It appeared that the players could no longer control their aggression in the third period and the penalties began. Late in the period things intensified and eventually became a brawl. An eventful well-played game by the entire Storm team and an awesome 6-3 win for a good start to the second round of playoffs.
Submitted by Suzanne Haedicke

The Cottage Country Building Supplies/Ridgewood Ford Highland Storm Atom A’s hosted the Shelburne Wolves for game two of round two of the playoffs on Sunday Feb. 11 at the S.G. Nesbitt Arena.
The first period started with the Storm going in the penalty box and Shelburne scored. However a minute later Beckam Reynolds scored tying the game. Shortly after it was four-on-four and Addison Carr scored and 30 seconds after that he scored again. Then with 20 seconds left Colby Coumbs came skating down the ice and scored a beauty rocket shot and it was 4-1 going into the second. The second started with another goal by Carr. Then it was just penalty after penalty but soon it was a five-on-three for Shelburne and they scored. But the Storm answered back with another goal by Carr. The game was 6-2 going into the third period. The third started with a goal by Brechin Johnston and then it was just a penalty battle. Shelburne got the first goal and then it was all Storm after that. Cheyenne Degeer took a beauty shot and scored a minute later Carr tied one in and finally with only a minute left Johnston shot one in the mesh and it was a 10-3 final. That put the Highland Storm Atom A team up 2-0 going into game three in Shelburne.
The cottage county building supplies/ Ridgewood Ford Atom As now will travel to Shelburne to play game three on Saturday Feb. 17 at 12:40 p.m.
Submitted by Amber Card

On Saturday the Storm’s TD Atom 2 team hosted the South Muskoka Fitzmaurice Atoms at the A.J. LaRue Arena in Haliburton. Fitzmaurice was up 2-0 by the time Ethan Thomas broke away and scored the Storm’s first goal of the game unassisted with five minutes left in the first. The Storm found themselves down 3-1 to start the second period.
The Storm got to work and started chipping away at Muskoka’s lead. Owen Sisson’s effort on the forecheck led to Eric Mueller streaking in on the Muskoka goalie and scoring his first goal of the season. Sisson was at it again early in the third when he set up Thomas for his second of the game tying it up at three goals apiece.
The Storm stuck to their game plan working hard to maintain pressure on the Atoms from Muskoka. Midway through the third defenceman Toby Posti spotted Maxime Little open up the middle. Making no mistakes Posti put the puck on Little’s stick. Maxime drove the net like a man possessed stuffing the puck behind the Muskoka goalie. His first goal of the season and the Storm’s first lead of the game with eight minutes still to play.
The final minutes of play saw chances traded at both ends. The solid team play by the Storm in both ends of the rink combined with goalie Jacob Lloyd closing the door the Storm got their second win in a row. 4-3 final. Next the Storm hosts Parry Sound Feb. 17 at the S.G. Nesbitt arena in Minden.
Submitted by Jamie Lloyd

On Saturday Feb. 10 the Total Site Services Bantam LL team travelled to South River to take on the Almaguin Ice Devils. In the first minute into the game Hunter Winder opened the scoring with a beauty from the blue line. Then with six minutes to go in the first Jackson Wilson scored on a nice pass from Reese Casey and then Kolby McGovern finished out the period with a nice one making it 3-0 for the Highland Storm.
Second period saw a lot of back and forth play and Wilson managed another nice one on a shot from Nick Phippen. Almaguin quickly retaliated and got on the board late in the second. Winder got his second goal unassisted as he skated through the crowd.
We were without our regular goalie this week and Carson Simms played great in that role. Thank you from the team for coming all that way to help us out!
Almaguin got another early in the period. Phippen had another awesome opportunity on another nice pass from Kiera Casey and Cash Fowler. Then Winder got his hat trick on a nice play from Phippen and Wilson. Final score was 7-2 for the Storm. Next week they take on the Parry Sound Shamrocks at 2 p.m. in Minden on Saturday and Sunday we are off to Cobourg for a small tournament. Good luck team!

The G.J. Burtch Construction Atom AE took on the Almaguin Ice Devils on Saturday Feb. 10. Storm defeated the Almaguin Ice Devils 5-3 with four goals scored by Jace Mills and one by Isaac Lee. Taylor Muclock had an outstanding game with three assists!
The Atom AE are going to be travelling to Bracebridge to take on South Muskoka next Saturday.

Atom vs Shelburne Wolves
Game 3: Saturday Feb. 17 at 12:40 p.m. in Shelburne Game 4: Sunday Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. in Haliburton (if required)
Bantam vs Wasaga Beach Stars
Game 2: Saturday Feb. 17 at 12:40 p.m. in Wasaga Beach Game 3: Sunday Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. in Haliburton
Midget vs Shelburne Wolves
Game 2: Saturday Feb. 17 at 1:50 p.m. in Shelburne Game 3: Sunday Feb. 18 at 3:30 p.m. in Haliburton