On Tuesday night the 2-2 Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks take on the 3-1 Six Nations Chiefs. Six Nations won the first meeting between these two teams this past Saturday defeating the Kodiaks 10-8. The Kodiaks will come into this game looking to get some retribution after such a close game while the Chiefs will want to see a repeat.
The Kodiaks came close to defeating the Chiefs in their game on Saturday but came up just short. In their game against the Chiefs on Saturday the Kodiaks had great performances from forwards Jesse Gamble and Joey Cupido. Gamble scored three goals while Cupido added 3 goals and an assist. The Kodiaks will also look to leading scorer Jamie Rooney to lead the way as he powered the offense in their last meeting showing off his play making skills by recording 4 assists and a goal. The Kodiaks will hope that goalie Evan Kirk is on his game once again as he was able to stop 34 of 44 shots in the last meeting between these two teams. The Kodiaks in order to win this game will need to find a way to limit the Chiefs chances on net and take some of the pressure off of Kirks shoulders. The Kodiaks will also need to continue to spread the ball around to open up opportunities for their forwards to capitalize on. The Kodiaks will need to be better on the power play as they went 0-5 on Saturday. These missed opportunities on the man advantage are what cost the Kodiaks the game. The most important thing though for the Kodiak’s is to come into this game with confidence and not dwell on their loss to the Chiefs and instead use it as motivation. The Kodiaks will be in for another close game but if they hustle and fight for loose balls they should be able to win this game.
The Six Nations Chiefs found a way to win this past Saturday against the Kitchener-Watrerloo Kodiaks and will be looking to beat them again on Tuesday night. The Chiefs were able to spread the ball around on Saturday night and had 8 different goals scorers. The Chiefs ability to vary their attack makes them dangerous as it makes it hard for teams to stop their offense. The Chiefs were lead by Colin Doyle and Alex Hill on offense. Doyle had 2 goals and 3 assists while Hill added 2 goals and 2 assists. The Chiefs will hope to get more out of forward Roger Vyse in this upcoming game as he is second on the team in scoring and was held to just 1 goal in the last meeting between these teams. If the Chiefs can open up space for Doyle, Hill and Vyse they should be able to spread the Kodiak’s defense and generate offensive opportunities. The Chiefs played well on defense on Sunday and were anchored by a strong performance by goalie Mike Poulin who made 32 saves on 42 shots. Poulin will once again be needed to have a strong performance in net. The Chiefs best chance to win this game will be to play a fast paced game and score early and often.
The Deciding factor in this game will be loose balls as these two teams are very evenly matched and the winner will likely be the team who control ball possession. The game starts at 8pm at Waterloo MRC.
