Mar 19, 2012 | Matthew Woodroffe | 1641 views
Started in a Tournament- Ended in a Marathon
Young Canada Week Recap:
What a week!
We started our Young Canada week on Tuesday morning against Thamesford at 8:30 in the morning. The early start might have been a bit of a problem as the boys came out a little sluggish. They battled through the yawns and heavy eye lids and managed a 2 all tie. Austin made two great plays on two separate Thamesford breakaways to remove the player from the puck.
Game Two against the Elma Logan Wildcats was a much different story. After a hearty lunch and just a couple hours of rest the boys came out on fire. We dominated play the entire game with crisp passing, solid body contact and some nice hard shots. We scored two goals in each period to collect maximum points and win 6 to 0.
Game Three on Wednesday vs. Teeswater another solid game for the kids more of the same from the previous game resulting in Mountain’s second straight shutout in a 2 to 0 win.
Off to the semi finals against Ripley! This was a tight checking affair and we went up early by one. We did a great job of holding the Ripley attackers off to outside shots, but with two minutes left on the clock Ripley snuck one past Mountain to tie things up ending our shutout streak at 109 minutes. Not rattled by the goal the boys the boys kept the pressure on Ripley and with 12 seconds left in the game and some solid work along the boards by Batterman the puck came out to Blackwell on the point, one hard slapper and a Woodroffe tip and the boys were off to the final vs. Lucknow.
The finals had everything and if you watched this game in the stands amd did not enjoy it then I would argue you were not alive. End to End, lots of solid hits, some great passing and some great goaltending. We carried a one goal lead from the first period right through until about 5 minutes left in the third when a real fluky shot and redirection found it’s way to the back of our net. It took triple overtime to figure this game out and unfortunately we came out on the wrong end of things when Lucknow scored on it’s last of eight power plays. The game lasted some 53 minutes in total! The boys deserved better after playing their hearts out but it was not to be on this day.
I can’t say enough about our players, from start to finish they played with heart and determination. You were perfect representatives off the ice as well. Mountain had an amazing tourney allowing only 5 goals in five games and Nathan did a great job filling in for a regular D man for three games. We are playing our best hockey of the year right now and the coaches and parents are having a lot of fun taking it all in.
All your parents are very proud of what you have accomplished. Great job fellas and lets keep things rolling vs. Kincardine in the WOAA finals.
-Jamie Blackwell