The Milverton Four wheel Drives
opened the 23-24 season hitting the road with a Friday night tilt in the
bustling metropolis of Pt. Elgin. This is the inaugural season of the Ontario
Elite Hockey League which is comprised of the teams from the former WOAA senior
men's hockey league. Shallow Lake and Shelburne have left the loop but new
entries include Erin and Georgian Bay. The Drives will have 20 games this
season , 10 games at the PERC split between Sat at 5 30 and Sundays at 2 pm.
The Drives faced off against the Saugeen Shores Winter Hawks at their
home facility, The Plex.
Our hometown heroes dressed 17 players for the first
game, including a batch of returning veterans and a handful of new additions .
This years entry has Head Coach Tyler Parker at the helm with faithful
assistant Dale Waddell as Assistant , Jackson Blowes GM extraordinaire ,
Equipment Manager and Logistics guru Dale "Teekles " Thedorff, and
Mike Chapman in a behind the scenes supervisory role and mysel, Team Physician/
Team Scribe. Looks and sounds electric....
At
this stage of the game there is too many faces and names for my aging cranium
to comprehend ,therefore I shall mention player names as the year progresses. I
will do my utmost not to forget anyone . The Drives have had great success the
last few years with A championships and most recently defeating Shallow Lake in
the finals. Returning from last year is Captain Dennis Dewar , the quiet leader
of the club with the silky ,deadly shot and son of Jody and Hodge Dewar (
beauty). Chris Corbett another savvy veteran, who along with Dennis, the team
will be looking for direction and leadership. Also good to have Mike
Vitelli (Vinnie) and Liam Buckley back in the fold . Between the pipes, the
Drives have returning Tyler Fassl and Tim Bester to manage goaltending
responsibilities.
The
game itself was a spirited affair between the two teams. The Drives opened the
scoring with hometown hero and native Mitch Boertien sniping snizzy in the first
period .The bench was ecstatic ! OMG and unbeknownst to anyone young Mitchell
had made history by the scoring the first goal in the EOHA senior league .
Truly amazing. Back to business however, the Drives had
a game to play the team couldn't win the game on making history alone. Winterhawks
would tie the game at 1 . The duo of Dennis and Chris would collaborate on a
very nice playmaking masterpiece with Corbett going bar down to tie the game at
two . ( I think or maybe we went ahead ) At any rate it was sawed off at 2 at
the end of the second stanza .The 'Hawks would eventually prevail 4-2 at the
end of 60. The Drives played a solid game for the first match keeping most of
the opponent shots to the perimeter. Mr Fassl had an exemplary evening minding
the mesh as he turned several shots, aside north of 60 to my knowledge. The
Hawks are an older experienced team and play a solid team, game ,so a tough
challenge for Drives for the first game . The team was a missing a few regulars
for the first game and with a few more games and practices the gang will be
rounding in to shape
.
Special
thanks to our chauffeur Glen Hurst from Newry Bus lines on getting the troops
to and back from the game. The Drives next game is slated for next Sunday
against the Ripley Wolves .This is Milverton Public School Day , all kids
enrolled at MPS have free admission. The boys are super pumped for the upcoming
Ladies night at the PERC . I have been informed from a very reliable source
that the event is sold out. Should be exciting!
Keep
in your thoughts Drives President Ronnie Bowman as he recovers in the hospital
. Happy belated Birthday to GM Jackson Blowes and super fan
/part time time keeper Jason Vink
.
Celebrity birthdays today Sharon Osbourne, John Lennon ,Eddie Guerrero