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Canfield Hat Trick Lifts Cats Over Seckman

The Ice Cats kept their perfect record alive Friday night as they beat the Seckman Jaguars 4-2.

Coming off their easy win against Summit last week, the Cats faced off against a tough Seckman squad. The start of the game was surely not in the Ice Cat’s favor. Halfway through the first period, a snubbed clearance by the Wildcat defense gave a breakaway to Seckman’s top center, and he buried the puck in the goal to put the game at 1-0. The Cats fought back, though, creating numerous chances at the mouth of the Jaguar goal. Despite these chances, the Cats couldn’t find the net, and the first period ended with the Cats still down 1-0.

As the second period started, the Cats continued to put pressure on the Seckman goal. In the beginning of the period, a Seckman penalty gave the Cats a great chance to tie the game. With the Power Play, the Cats poured the shots on and eventually found a breakthrough. On a set swingaround play, Senior Willie Canfield sniped a wrist shot into the top corner. With the momentum of this goal it was only a matter of time before the Cats would find the goal again. Minutes later, it was Canfield again who found the goal, slotting a hard shot under the goalie’s pad. With the score at 2-1, the Cats fell back and played sloppy defense, resulting in a tying goal from Seckman less than a minute later. The Cats made up for their defensive woes and pushed for a go ahead goal, but the second period ended with the score at 2-2.

The third period was all Westminster. A few minutes into the period, Canfield finished off his hat trick, slipping the puck by the Seckman goalie to give the Cats a 3-2 lead. Less than a minute later, a breakaway for Seckman almost tied the game back up, but Freshman goaltender Sam Haupfear came up with a huge safe to keep the lead alive. After a few more great saves by Haupfear, the Cats started up their offense again. With seven minutes to go in the period, Junior Jason Kelley made a wonderful saucer pass to give Sophomore Levi Wright an easy goal. With the score at 4-2, the WCA defense buckled down to finish out the game. A few more Seckman chances were not enough, and the game ended as a 4-2 win for the Ice Cats.