October 6, 2006... TIGERS SPLIT BACK TO BACK GAMES
On Thursday night the Tigers came out of the blocks playing inspired hockey against the rival Toronto Royals. The 1st meeting of the season was a draw in tournament play so the Tigers were hungry for a victory.

Riley Skyba scored the Tigers 1st goal from in front of the Royal net as he refused to be denied the goal.

The Tigers then found themselves shorthanded many times through the 1st period. Adam Galbraith once again proved himself to be one of the teams most effective penalty killers.

With Ryan Johnson throwing some thunderous body checks, the Tigers were able to maintain their initial momentum.

Despite this the Royals tallied with a goal to tie the score and that’s how it ended after the end of the 1st period.

To start the 2nd period the Tigers found themselves shorthanded allowing the Royals to score there 2nd goal on a quick break out from their zone. 10 minutes in to the 2nd period the Tigers were 2 men short again. The Royals once again took advantage of the situation.

Soon after that the Tigers fell victim to another goal by the opportunistic royals for there 4th tally of the period as the puck slowly rolled in after Matt made the initial stop. The Tigers were the victims of a slow whistle by the ref.

Despite a 2nd goal by Skyba the Royals would not be denied and responded with another quick goal making the score 5-2. To make matters worse the Royals scored while shorthanded. The final score was 7-3 with Justin Iskra scoring for the 3rd and final goal for the Tigers.

Friday night’s game was an opportunity for the Tigers to bounce back from their loss the night before. They started the game with the same tempo and execution and were rewarded with an early goal by Dustin Hayward. The goal was made possible by a hustling Matthew Raleigh who moved the puck up to Hayward who rifled a high hard one to the short-side.

It was apparent that the Tigers learned some lessons from the previous night and continued to execute their game plan with quick passes and tenacious fore checking.

With a 4 on 4 situation Reilly Skyba continued his torrid scoring pace by bagging his 1st goal of the night and 3rd in 2 nights. The goal was made possible by the fore checking of Adam Galbraith.

Despite seeing little action early Connor Clark showed up when called upon and helped maintain the Tigers momentum.

In the 2nd period Dustin Hayward deked the Canuck goaltender to his backhand and lifted it into the net giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead.

The 3rd period was scoreless but with 33 seconds left in the game Adam Galbraith deflected a point shot from David Canavan to round out the scoring, giving the Tigers a 4-0 victory.

Should the Tigers continue their consistent play, they will be a force to reckoned with at this weekends Whitby Tournament.

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