Posted By: uuhadood

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

TORONTO - The Brockton Rockets downed the Gas Station Islanders this past Saturday night at Upper Canada College, putting an end to a six-game losing streak that started back on Dec. 3, 2022. The final score in that contest was 3-1. Meanwhile, the Wheatfield Souldiers edged the Beau's Beer Hack by a score of 3-2, delivering Burton's Boys their sixth consecutive win and sole possession of 1st place in the UUHA standings.

 

Brockton Rockets rookies Nick Pomponio and Chris Brown came to play on Saturday night and wasted little time getting their struggling squad up off the canvas and into the win column. Pompanio opened the scoring in the Rockets 8:00 pm match vs. the Gas Station Islanders about three-and-a-half minutes into the game, converting a pass from Michael Wilcox to solve Isles goalie Jospeh Steinman. Brown followed up a mere five minutes later, combining with fellow freshman Greg Querel to make it 2-0 in Brockton's favour. Less than two minutes later, Brown struck again, this time helped out on the play by Michahel Daniels, giving the Red Rockets an advantage of three unanswered goals.

 

The Islanders managed a reply early in the 2nd period, though, as Eddie Belanger dished to the point where a wrister from GSI captain Richard Switzer caromed its way through a crowd of players, past goaltender Jonathan Dickson and into the back of the Rockets net. That would be the last lamp lit of the contest, though, as the Rockets staunched the bleeding from an unprecedented bout of winlessness, while the Islanders dropped two in a row for only the second time this season.

 

The night's other contest saw the Beau's Beer Hack playing host to the Wheatfield Souldiers in a game that had top spot in the standings up for grabs. Veteran Hack forward Chris Barkley got his side on the scoreboard first, banging in a net-front rebound off a shot from brother Stefan to open the scoring at 6:16 of the first frame. Souldiers rookie Herbie Barnes would even things up a full period later, finishing off a three-way passing play with Eric Toth and Kyle Welton for his fourth goal of the campaign, resetting things at 1-1.

 

A disallowed goal early in the 3rd (deemed to have somehow gone straight up, off the back netting and then rebounded down and into the Hack net) seemed to spark the aggrieved party, as Toth combined with relative newcomer Jay Jalonen to make it 2-1 Souldiers. That lead wouldn't hold up long, though, as Aaron Foster and Louis Durand found Ben Bednarz on the breakout who solved goalie Tim Walker to tie proceedings at two apiece. However, just a minute-and-a-half later, defenceman Rodney Merchant sprung Souldiers forward Brian Bentley who handcuffed Hack goaltender Aaron Brophy with a hard snapshot from just inside the blueline, registering the final, and game-wining, tally of the match.

 

With the win (the team's sixth in-a-row), the Souldiers saw their record improve from a dismal 1-4-1 back in early December to 7-4-1 which, when combined with bonus points from six penalty-free games, puts them two points ahead of the 2nd-place Humiliation (7-4-0) going into the league's Family Day Long Weekend break. The Humiliation enjoys a game in hand, though, and boasts the best overall win percentage among the UUHA's six squads. The Hack (now 7-5-0) are currently tied with the Humiliation at 16 points on the season.

 

The UUHA resumes regular season action on Saturday, Feb. 25 with the Humiliation taking on the Gas Station Islanders at 8:00 pm, followed by the Jokers and Beau's Beer hack at 9:00 pm. Both of those games will transpire at Upper Canada College's well-appointed William P. Wilder Arena.