Squirt Gray Sabres edge Horsehoes

The Squirt Gray Sabres defeated the visiting Burlington Golden Horseshoe team, 4-3, on Sunday to complete the home and home portion of this year's Friendship Tournament.

The first period was played in Burlington's end with Burlington goalie Seth Adamson standing on his head to keep the Gray Sabres off the scoresheet.

Approximately four minutes into the game, Connor Koester fired a perfect breakout pass to Gabe Jewula. He carried the puck deep into the Burlington zone, drawing three players to him before sliding a nifty saucer pass to JB Beck who beat the goalie cleanly to the stick side.

Burlington sent wave after wave of skaters but good puck pressure and fantastic goaltending of the Gray Sabres' Joe Burke kept Burlington of the board.

With five minutes left in the second period, Josh McFarland of Burlington finally found the twine on a fluke goal. Brett Rybski passed to McFarland behind the net and his pass out front deflected off Burke into the net.

The two teams traded rushes with Gray Sabres Katelyn Koester, Joe Arias, Benjamin Lackner, and Austin Maciok all having excellent scoring chances. The two teams entered the third period tied at 1-1.

The Gray Sabres broke the tie in a big way. On a power play, Jack Cooper found Mark Giangreco streaking up the center. Brian Kowalski, showing great hustle, joined the rush and the two bore down on the Burlington goalie. Giangreco faked a pass to Kowalski and roofed a perfect shot to put the Gray Sabres ahead.

Both teams played stingy defense until Peter Gossels spotted Jack Cooper open across the rink. Gossels made a pinpoint pass to Cooper who spotted Antonio Zendano breaking open down the middle. A perfect lead pass and Zendano slid it by the sprawled Burlington net keeper. Three seconds later, Giangreco and Koester combined to spring Angelo Derossi free, who roofed the puck by a surprised Burlington goalie.

Down by three goals with less than four minutes remaining, Burlington pulled their goalie in favor of another skater. This strategy proved successful when Mark White and later Matt McCarthy scored, assisted by Ben Mallory and McFarland, respectively. Burlington ran out of time as the Gray Sabres killed off the rest of the clock.