Few people are aware that Shattuck fields a Midget AAA team.  The Midget AAA team is consider a Tier II team and has played the last few seasons in the Elite D League at this time of the year.  This team will play in the National Invitational Tourney to be played in early November at the PIC in Plymouth and will play in the Silver Stick tourney in January.

In a Sunday morning game, the AAA’s beat the Texas Jr Brahams easily for their third win of the season.  The Sabres are big and strong; but more importantly work together to control the puck.  Texas played a dump and chase style but could not set up in the Sabres’ zone.  The Bulls were constantly beaten by the Sabres’ quick puck control on the breakouts.

The game was close for the first two periods in score only.  The first period ended in a 0-0 tie; but it took the Bulls 17 minutes to get a shot on the Sabres’ goal.  That shot came on the Bulls’ second power play of the period.  The Bulls were outshot 42-6 in the first two periods.

The Sabres scored twice in the second period.  The Sabres’ Chandler Watson scored the first goal a minute into the period.  He took a pass in the high slot and sent the puck on a hard shot to the net.  It deflected off a defender to put the Sabres up 1-0.

The second goal started with a Sabre forward on a rush down the right side of the ice.  He lost control of the puck inside the Bull’s zone.  Defenseman Brandon Zajicek/STMA, who had kept a tight gap on the charging forward, stepped into the loose puck and drove it into the goal.  Zajicek hasn’t lost that hard shot since he was a peewee playing for the Knights.

Connor Koch and Andrew Cordssen-David anchored a tough AAA defense.  They continual kept any of the Texas forwards to the outside of the face off dots, forcing the Brahams to take weak shots on the net.

The AAA forwards played the attack in the Brahams’ zone well.  Their wings were able to wheel in the corners and find the forward or the defense in the high slot.  The Sabres went on to win the game and sweep the series from the Jr. Brahams.

The Midget AAA team opens play this week in the Elite D League against the Metro Northwest team in a game played at Shattuck Thursday.  The Sabres AAA team have yet to give up a goal.

The Sabres’ U16 team jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Brett Crossley and Vincent de Mey.  After Thunder Bay scored at the 6 minute mark, the Sabres’ de Mey scored his second goal of the period to put Shattuck up 3-1 after the first period.

The second period was all Thunder Bay.  The Kings scored three times to take a 4-3 lead into the final period.  Avery Siau’s goal one minute into the second cut Shattuck’s lead to 3-2.  A minute later, Brad Belisle scored to tie the game 3-3.  At the 11 minute mark, Alex Maticic scored to put the Kings up 4-3 going into the third period.

The third period was all Shattuck.  They continued to pressure the Kings in their zone for most of the period.  With less than five minutes left in the game, Shattuck’s Benjamin Lown sent a hard shot from the right faceoff along the ice forcing Kings’ goalie Dylan Ossachuk to make a last minute skate save deflecting the puck to the end boards.  The Sabres picked up the loose puck and attacked the Kings’ goal from the left resulting in a rebound back to Lown open on the now weak side right.  Lown drove the puck into the net past a diving Ossachuk to tie the game 4-4.

With less than two minutes left in the game, the Sabres’ Edward Lindelow broke free in the left high slot area with the puck and beat Ossachuk’s poke check to score the winner, 5-4.

The Sabre’s will travel to Green Bay to play Team Wisconsin next weekend in a three game series.  The Badgers will be “sky high” after winning the High Performance Hockey League’s Showcase Tourney last weekend at the Super Rink.  The Sabre’s will have a full roster, hopefully.  They played the Kings short three players, Gage Mackie, Graham McPhee, and Pierce Crawford.