The Crossfire came into the game fired up off their first win of the season and ready to take a second, but, in a heartbreaking last minute of play, the Crossfire’s win, once firmly in their grasp, slipped away.
The Stylers beat the Crossfire 12-11 in Thursday’s home game, taking the lead for only the second time in the game in the last minute of play.
Pat Gibbs was hoping to get some momentum with a second win.
“I really, really wanted that win,” Gibbs said.
The game started with the momentum on the side of the Crossfire.
It was the Stylers who opened the scoring early in the first, but the Crossfire responded quickly and didn’t let up.
The Crossfire capitalized on each possession, stringing a line of unanswered goals through the first period. The Crossfire scored six goals through the first 20 minutes, with the Stylers only managing their second goal of the game with six seconds left in the period.
In the beginning of the second, the game turned, with the Stylers taking firm control of the game for the first five minutes to even up the score before the Crossfire firmed up again.
For the rest of the period the Crossfire and Stylers traded goals, with the Crossfire pulling ahead by a goal only to have the Stylers catch up so they could begin the process again. At the end of the second, the Crossfire led the game once again, 9–8.
The third started slowly, with the Stylers opening scoring just over five minutes in. The Crossfire responded in kind, but this time, instead of allowing the Stylers the tying goal, they netted another seconds later.
The Stylers came back half a minute later to make it a one goal game, which they scored with just over four minutes left in the game.
The last four minutes were tense for the fans as both teams vied for the go ahead goal until the last minute when the Stylers grabbed the lead and sat on it for a 12-11 win.
The loss was a difficult one as it came despite some very strong performances on the Crossfire side. Gibbs praised the offence of Devin Waylon and Hunter Krebbs and credited goalie Bob Mills with doing a great job between the pipes.
The changing roster and the lack of gelling in the team made for disorganization on the floor an hindered their ability to switch from defence to offence, Gibbs said.
“One of the biggest things is we have a different set of guys every time because of different commitments,” Gibbs said.
“You’re asking a lot from a guy who has to get up and go to work the next morning.”
The team has been struggling after the loss of Cam Braun, one of their best players, to injury and then other commitments.
Due to the revolving nature of the roster and the lack of players, Gibbs was forced to call up players from the midget team. Gibbs is happy with their play, saying they are some of his best players, but are at a disadvantage with regards to their size.
Gibbs is optimistic that with the return of some missing players and some more practice, the team will get back to winning games.
“It’s going to come together; we’ll figure this out,” he said.
The Crossfire play the Assault this Thursday at the Twin Arena before going on the road to Prince George next week to play the Bandits.