Twin Bridges Pee Wee A1

Affton, Mo – Soak it in folks. The Twin Bridges PeeWee A1 (26-6-3) took on a Central States PeeWee Minor team that is 17-6-3 at the Central States level and has been outscoring their opponents by a 2 to 1 margin, and they were ready.

The Twin Bridges team came out firing as Tyler Fechte opened the scoring just 40 seconds into the game with a huge blast from the point as Jacob Nickel used his massive frame to screen the Affton goalie.

The only thing missing was the campfire, as Jake Nickel was living in front of the Affton goalie, and it paid off 4 minutes later when he re-directed a Tyler Fechte missile from the point to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.

Both teams put on a show as the first period was highlighted by end to end rushes, team speed, tape to tape passing, and All-Star goaltending as the teams combined for a season high 31 shots on goal in the first period. Dylan Haase stopped the first 16 shots he faced, many of the spectacular version, as the Affton team showed off their affinity for the one-timer.

It looked like the Twin Bridges team was going to roll over another opponent and head into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead until Affton forward Alex Chiodini stopped the premature celebration with his fifth goal of the year with 44 seconds remaining in the first period.

The Lightning looked stunned at the turn of events as they skated with the speed of a wounded animal in the second. Playing what can only be described as table-top hockey, the Lightning were outshot 12-4 in the second period with all 4 shots being of the weak variety from the point. Luckily, Dylan Haase kept his sleepwalking teammates in the game limiting the Affton team to 1 goal and a 2-2 tie heading into the third period.

The second period nap seemed to help the Lightning regain their dominant form as they returned to the practice of pelting the Affton goalie with shots. Trevor “The Minnesota Jet-Stream” Erickson decided not to pelt the goalie as he showed he can always get a job as a roofer with a shot lifted nicely up under the bar to give the Lightning what looked like a final 3-2 lead with only 4:42 remaining in the game.

Champagne corks were returned to their bottles though as Affton tough guy Chris Herbosa crashed the net and slipped in a controversial goal in a wild scramble in front of the Lightning net with 1:17 left in the game to even the score at 3-3.

You couldn’t be any prouder of this group of kids unless they finished as valedictorian of their dental school class. The Lightning showed the Affton team that while we may not be from Missouri, we are from a ‘Central State’.

Story Update: Jason Nickel – if Jacob is missing, I suggest looking for him in front of the net on the East end of the Affton Ice Arena.

Chesterfield, MO, Apparently, Dylan Haase purchased his goalie equipment at Shutouts R’ Us (or maybe Shop N’ SAVE), as the Twin Bridges goalie extended his shutout streak to 8 periods in leading his team to a 5-0 win in the opening game of the Arctic Blast Tournament.

Jacob Ditto opened the scoring midway through the first period as he intercepted a Chesterfield outlet pass and walked in alone on a helpless goalie that could only help the referees by pulling the puck out of the back of his net.

Rarely does hustle and passing get recognized in game summaries, but the line of Ditto, Krekovich, and Sperry dazzled all in attendance with a tic-tac-toe passing play that resulted in Cory Sperry banging a beautiful feed from John Paul Krekovich into an open net to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.

Jacob Ditto and Tyler McHatton scored in the second period to give the Lightning a 4-0 lead, before Cole Ford put on a show with one of his patented end-to-end rushes that resulted in an unhappy Chesterfield goalie and a 5-0 Lightning lead.

In an update to this story, Cole Ford just signed a 4-year 20 million dollar contract with the St Louis Blues to replace the injured Carlo Colaiacovo on the St Louis blueline. Good Luck Cole!

In the immortal words of Katelyn McHatton and Miranda Ditto, "We love our goalie"!

In a game where the Twin Bridges Lightning managed a season low 15 shots on goal, Dylan Haase took it upon himself to will his team to victory stopping all 17 Kirkwood shots, some from point-blank range, to earn his 5th shutout of the season.

Cole Ford scored the first goal of the game nine minutes into the first period as he skated gracefully through the entire Kirkwood team and fired a wrister top shelf (where grandma hides the cookies).

Cole looked like he was going to do it again in the second period while on the power play, but in the giving spirit of the holiday season, he gift wrapped a pass to a wide open Jacob Nickel standing all alone in front of the Kirkwood goalie. Jacob knew what to do next as he put the biscuit in the basket without hesitation to give Twin Bridges a 2 goal lead that would prevail for the remainder of the game.

Twin Bridges improved to 7-0-2 in league play, and is alone in first place in the Mo Hockey Pee Wee A1 Smythe division.

WOW!

East Alton, Illinois – The Twin Bridge Lightning Pee Wee A1 team got off to a slow start in this game giving up multiple scoring chances early to the St Louis Cyclone Girls U14 team. Goalie Dylan Haase was a brick wall until finally succumbing to the pressure as Meagan Bowman opened the scoring giving the Cyclones an early 1-0 lead.
Tyler McHatton tied the score early in the second perion on a nice feed from Cole Ford. The Cyclones regained their one goal lead minutes later as Jayne Lewis pumped in a one-timer from the slot.
Cyclone goalie Alexis Thomeczek looked determined to make the 1 goal lead hold up stopping the first 8 Lightning shots of the third period. Things looked bleak for the Lightning as Tyler McHatton was called for tripping midway through the third, giving the Cyclones’ vaunted power play unit a shot at putting the game out of reach. Fortunately for the Lightning, center and all-around good guy, Trevor Erickson had other ideas. Intercepting a Cyclone cross-ice pass, the Minnesota Jet-Stream turned on the jets to split the Cyclone defense giving himself a breakaway that resulted in a short-handed goal to tie the game at 2-2. The tie kept both teams undefeated in league play and improved the Lightning overall record to 6-1-2.