game #1 Drives, News (Milverton Drives Hockey)

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2023-2024 Milverton 4 Wheel Drives | Oct 08, 2023 | Jim Yost | 1702 views
game #1 Drives
 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
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              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



 
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Sponsors
Bateman Equipment
The Drives would like to thank Bateman Equipment for their continued support during the 2024-25 season! Bateman is one of our Bronze sponsors!
AW Millwrights Ltd
The team would like to thank AW Millwrights for their continued support for the 2024-25 season. We are greatful to AW Millwrigths as our platinum sponsor.