Jacks take it on the chin from Tavistock in back-to-back losses
THE TAVISTOCK BRAVES SHOWED why they sit atop the divisional standings, beating Wellesley twice in as many days last weekend.
Though losing last Friday night on the road by a score of 5-1 and then at home 6-3 on Saturday, the Jacks held on to third place in the South Doherty Division with a record of 13-4-1-3, their 30 points just one ahead of the Woodstock Navy Vets (148-0-1)
Things were looking good for the Jacks early on in the November 23 match, as James Ranson drew first blood just 29 seconds into the game, with assists going to Shaun Pickering and Alex Uttley. They may have scored early, but not often, as the scoreboard belonged to the home team after that.
While the visitors took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission, Tavistock broke it open in the second, taking advantage of a string of Wellesley penalties to score three times on the power play en route to a 4-1 advantage by the time the frame ended.
Special teams were a factor in the lone goal of the third period. This time, however, the Braves were shorthanded when they rounded out the scoring at 5-1 with less than five minutes to go. Tavistock ended up 3-10 on the power play, while Wellesley was 0-5 with the advantage. Shots were 36-29 for the team that got to celebrate a win.
Things were slightly better the following night back at the Wellesley arena, but not good enough to prevent the Jacks from losing for the first time on home ice.
This time, it was Tavistock that scored the lone goal of the opening 20 minutes, again on the power play – they’d go 3-7 by game’s end. They’d never relinquish the lead.
It was 2-0 at 2:22 of the second courtesy of another power-play marker, but Wellesley got on the board just a couple of minutes later, part of the action in the busiest frame of the match. The visitors restored their two-goal lead at 7:32 and it would be eight minutes before the Jacks got that one back. With just seconds to go, however, the Braves used the man advantage to make it 4-2.
The teams traded goals in the third, the Jacks making it 5-3 before giving up an empty-net goal with just over a minute to go.
Though still on the losing end of the match, the Jacks did manage to bury a couple of more pucks while outshooting the visitors 40-27.
About halfway through the season, the Jacks will be looking to get back on track this weekend – and start a new streak on home ice – when they welcome the Ayr Centennials Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and then the Delhi Travellers the following afternoon for a 2 p.m. matinee.