The Canton Bears lost 3-2 to the OFA Blue Devils. Canton played well, especially in the first half.
The Bears took the end with the wind in the first half, and got out to an early lead when Bradley Frank gave a nifty pass to Owen Hall who buried it. The Bears continued to dominate play in the first half, and got their second when Tanner Hazelton crossed it beautifully to Josh Aldous, finishing it and putting the Bears up by two. The Canton offense continued to pressure the OFA defense, but despite multiple scoring chances no more goals were scored in the first half.
The second half proved more challenging for the Bears, as now the wind played a huge factor on throw-ins and goal kicks. This seemed to not be a problem for the first part of the second half, but as time went on the Bears were getting beat to all the goal kicks and throws, and a gap formed between the offense and defense. Canton would clear the ball, but with too much of a gap they were getting beat to all the 50/50 balls, and it is very difficult to play well when that starts happening.
A series of unfortunate events led to the first Blue Devil goal, and quickly following a second. In a span of about two minutes the game was tied at two. The Bears were still not looking good, and a miscue on defense led to the third Ogdensburg goal. The last five minutes of the game were a desperate push to score. Chance after chance, no goals were scored. With 20 seconds left, the Bears got a direct kick of an OFA yellow card, unfortunately the ball missed the net, and the game was over.
The Bears play on Tuesday away against Potsdam.
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