Stars Spanked By Thunder

By Brian R. Johnston
Sunday, January 27th, 2008

Brampton, ON –

The Brampton Thunder wanted to leave a decisive message for the East Division leading Montreal Stars, so they came out and gave them a good old fashioned spanking at the Powerade Centre on Saturday night.

No one in attendance would have expected to see anything as devastating before the puck was dropped, but in the end, the Thunder trashed them by a score of 7 – 1 and without the tremendous work of the Stars goalie, Jenny Lavigne the beating would have gone into double digits.

It is actually hard for me to think of where to begin in describing what took place.

My guess is that it was the outstanding game that Lori Dupuis had as she notched a hat trick to lead the goal scoring parade.  Before the game was5 minutes and 10 seconds old, she had notched 2 of her 3 goals while the Thunder were short handed and that on its own would have been enough to bury the Stars in this one.  She scored her third goal of the game at even strength in the second period.

Next had to be the outstanding performance of Jayna Hefford, who had a single goal, along with 5 assists for 6 points overall in this one.

Not to be out done, Meredith Ostrander, Kathleen Kauth and Molly Engstrom all bulged the twine as well.

Other offensive helpers came from Allyson Fox (2), Kathleen Kauth (2) and Tiffany Hagge (2).

Defensively, Krista McArthur, Lori Loftus, Allyson Fox, Meredith Ostrander, Tiffany Hagge, Kathleen Kauth all played inspired games as the entire team rose to another level for the most part throughout.

Cindy Eadie’s shut out went astray at the 16:34 mark of the third period as Sabrina Roy allowed the Stars a little something to cheer about, even though they were seriously out played in all areas of the ice, as she beat the Thunder Goalie.

Associate Coach, Carol Cooper said, “Our game plan was to be focused on the task at hand and we did an admirable job except for the last 3 minutes of the game, when we let our guard down because of a brain cramp.”

She continued, “We certainly hadn’t experienced the likes of Leslie Oles, the 17 year old phenomenon of the Stars and she surprised us with her speed, agility and play making ability, but we adapted very nicely in nullifying her for the most part.  She is the real deal and it is apparent that the other member of the Canadian Under 18 team, Marie-Phillp Poulin who wasn’t present would also add another dimension to the East Division leaders.”

The Thunder out shot their rivals by a margin of 50 – 25 overall and finally went hard to the net by driving the lanes and their efforts certainly paid off for them as they had the oppositions goalie moving all game and when the goal tender has to move, the scoring opportunities increase by over 80%.

© Copyright Brian R. Johnston