CANORA – This is a busy time of the year for the Canora Cobras, with SEHL playoffs and Provincial B playoffs going on at the same time.
Game 1
On Feb. 13, the LeRoy Braves visited Canora for Game 1 of their provincial first round best-of-three series. The Cobras got off to a strong start with a goal by Skyler Wallin of Margo less than four minutes into the first period.
“That early goal really got us going,” said Cobras Coach Darren Schwartz. “It was a very physical game, we were definitely ready to play. We like to play that way, they banged us and we banged them back.”
With the full support of an announced attendance of 335, most of them Cobras fans, the home team took a 2-0 lead in the second period on a goal by Sean Kolodziejski of Hyas. But the Braves didn’t take long to respond, cutting the deficit in half by the end of the second period.
The visitors continued their momentum by potting the tying goal on a power play only 15 seconds into the final period. Coach Schwartz said the Cobras’ response turned out to be a key to the win. An unassisted wraparound goal by Derrick Schwartz of Runnymede with under five minutes left on the clock turned out to be the difference.
“We didn’t panic, we played a lot better that way. Plus it was probably our most physical game all year. We finally got a chance and put it in the net.”
The Braves pulled their goalie to push for the tying goal, but Schwartz scored into the empty net for his second of the game to wrap up a 4-2 win and a 1-0 lead in the series.
The other Cobras goal came from Sean Kolodziejski of Hyas, William Hauber of Canora was the top playmaker with two assists.
Game 2
Playing their third game in three nights, the Cobras traveled to LeRoy for Game 2, and it was once again a low scoring battle.
“We started slow and were well behind in shots,” said Coach Schwartz. “We just weren’t moving our feet and ended up taking a lot of penalties. We were shorthanded for 12 minutes in the first period alone.”
The Braves scored first, but Schwartz said the Cobras started playing better in the second period “and we took the play to them. We thought we had tied it up but that goal was disallowed because their goalie lost a skate blade. It’s a new rule now that the play is whistled down if the goalie loses a piece of equipment.”
The Cobras managed to tie the game in the third period on a goal by Brett Duczek of Grayson, but things just weren’t going their way.
“We thought we took the lead, but the ref was out of position. He blew the whistle because he thought the puck was frozen by the goalie but it wasn’t and went into the net. Unfortunately for us, it was another disallowed goal.”
LeRoy later took a 2-1 lead and then scored into an empty net for a 3-1 final score and a 1-1 tie in the series.
The deciding Game 3 was scheduled for Canora on Feb. 21.
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