Homestead goaltender Connor Gould shut the door on the Leo Lions after making 26 stops to help his team gain their first victory in Fort Wayne Amature Hockey Association play. Goaltending and special teams made up the tale of the game.

1st period
Leo’s Jackson Reith was sent to the penalty box with 1:11 left to go for a trip. Homestead was able to capitalize on the power play with Gavin Elkins’ second of the season off a redirect from Cameron Hurley and Aiden Byler’s first point of the night. With five seconds left to go in the first period, Leo was forced to the box, and Aaron Amick was penalized for an elbow.

2nd period
Homestead started the period on the man advantage and took advantage when Aiden Byler netted his third goal on the year. Christopher Adasczik and Drew Brimmer had the helpers. After Leo’s first two trips to the sin bin, Homestead would make the trip four times in the rest of the game. Currently, Homestead sits at the top of the league with 133 penalty minutes as a team. At 14:06, after the second goal, the goal scorer headed to the box for a hook. Gavin Elkins would force his team into a 5-on-3 situation by joining Byler in the box, this time for a rough. Homestead was able to kill off the 5-on-3 and gain momentum in their favor. Leo’s did have a resurgence of energy where it looked like they were playing on the power play, but another power play wouldn’t come until the third period.

3rd period
Leo’s penultimate powerplay was given by Drew Brimmer who went to the box 53 seconds into the third. Then, there was another 5-on-3 opportunity for about 1:31 when Spartan Gavin Elkins made his way to the box for a crosscheck at 13:21. Leo was unable to capitalize as Gould made some spectacular saves. Brimmer would seal the deal with a goal of his own off an assist from Jacob Gerber, establishing a 3-0 game.

The final shots on goal were 19 Homestead – 26 Leo. Connor Gould got the shutout and made 26 saves in the win. Drew Baumert for Leo had 16 saves on 19 shots.

This article was written by Fiona Quinn.