99ers Battle From Behind to Beat Cobourg
BRANTFORD, ON- The Brantford 99ers hosted the Cobourg Cougars this Thursday night at the Gretzky Centre. Both teams entered the games with 2 points on the season, Brantford with a 1-2-0 record, and Cobourg with a 1-1-0 record. Aiden Berry got the start in net for the 99ers, while Dillon Grover got the call for the Cougars.
Cobourg captain Andy Reist got the game started quickly, tucking one under the pads of Berry to open up the scoring for the Cougars. A short 8 minutes later, Reist received a pass from Connor Prestwich and fired it past the glove of Berry for his 2nd goal of the night and 4th of the season, giving the Cougars an early 2-0 lead. Brantford answered quickly this time around just a short 3 minutes later, Spencer Borg sent the puck up to Evin Kojokaro who on the breakaway, snapped the puck over the glove of Grover to cut the 99ers deficit in half. The 1st period ended 2-1 in favour of the Cougars.
Just 5 minutes into the middle frame, Brantford’s Kyle Burton blocked a shot in the defensive zone, then raced up the ice on a breakaway beating Grover blocker side and tying the game at 2. Just over 2 minutes later, Kojokaro raced into the offensive zone from the left wing and cut in front of the net, Garrett McCabe snapped the rebound into the net for his 3rd goal of the season, giving Brantford their first lead of the evening. With 6:21 left to go in the 2nd, the Cougars had a tired Brantford group stuck in their own zone. With Berry scrambling around the net making 2 beautiful saves in a row, Carson Durnin was able to fire a rebound past Berry to tie the game at 3.
4:29 into the final period, Brantford’s Cole Smith went to fire a one-timer on net when his stick exploded. However this caused the puck to land on the stick of Kyle Burton who scored his 2nd of the night to give Brantford the 4-3 lead. Aiden Berry proved to play hero, stopping all 15 Cobourg shots in the final frame and saving 39/42 total, securing the victory for the hometown 99ers.
The Brantford 99ers are right back in action tonight as they travel to Oakville to take on the Blades at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. The puck drops at 7pm.
