The Hamilton Kilty B’s defeated the Pelham Panthers 5-0 at home on Thursday night, largely thanks to an 18 save, shut-out performance by Hamilton’s goaltender, Leland Gill.
In the first period, Pelham applied pressure to Hamilton on the forecheck and came out playing very physical to start the game.
Kilty B’s Head Coach, Ken Peroff, said that this isn’t a tactic they are unfamiliar with this season.
“I think if you’re aware of it, then you have an opportunity to kind of manage that a little bit and stay disciplined with it,” Peroff said. “Also, if teams start running around looking for hits, we have the skill to make them pay”.
Quality scoring chances were pretty hard to come by for the first 17 minutes of the game, but Jordan Monteith opened up the scoring late in the first.
Monteith buried his eleventh goal of the year on a hard-fought rebound out in front of the Panthers net. After that, things heated up for Hamilton as they had many great chances to score very late in the period. Panthers goalie, Andrew Welch, made some impressive saves on the late scoring opportunities to keep the deficit at one.
At the start of the second period, the Panthers controlled most of the puck movement, partially on the power-play, but Hamilton’s netminder, Leland Gill, shut the door with some flashy stops.
Coach Peroff called Gill’s performance tonight ‘Awesome’. “When we needed him, he was unbelievable for us, and that’s all you can ask,” Peroff said.
Peroff was proud of the way Gill came ready to play and said the team in front of him played solid defence too. “That’s a big shutout for him”.
Six minutes into the second, The Kilty B’s were able to capitalize on a turnover in the offensive zone by the Panthers. Keegan Driscoll ripped a shot into the top left corner of the net on a ‘two on one’ to give Hamilton a 2-0 lead.
The Kilty B’s would extend their lead just over four minutes later, on a goal by Brodie McIntyre with an excellent feed from Dawson McKinney and Nathan Omeri. The pass from McKinney at the side of the net, set up McIntyre perfectly to put his point-blank shot past an outstretched Panthers goaltender.
Coach Peroff said not much changed structurally from the first period, but the team executed much better in the second period which allowed them to score.
“We talk a lot about our ‘O-Zone’ play,” Peroff said. “We take a lot of pride in it… we really got it going later on in the second period”.
Justin Monteith added his second goal of the game, and twelfth of the season, at the 14-minute mark of the second period. The goal was assisted by Dawson McKinney for the third time in the game, putting him at 17 assists on the year.
With under four minutes to go in the third period, Zach Ladd came bursting out of the penalty box on a pass from Keegan Driscoll, setting up a two-on-one. Ladd dished it to Zach Vaillancourt down the right side as he deposited his fourth goal of the season, making it 5-0.
Tonight, Hamilton became the second team in the conference to reach 105 goals on the year. The Kilty B’s also hold the best goal differential in the conference at plus 35.
With this win, Hamilton moves to (18-4-3-0) on the season, holding onto first place for the time being. The Kilty B’s will play their next game on Thursday, Dec 1 at 7 p.m, when they welcome the Thorold Blackhawks (12-11-0-0) to Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena.
-Jarrett Matthews
