Nolan Leads Meteor U18 Boys To Title In South Huron, News (Mitchell Minor Hockey)

Jack Nolan scored a total of four goals on the final day to lead the Mitchell Larry Hudson Chevrolet Buick GMC Meteor U18 Boys to the championship of the annual Bill Batten Memorial Tournament held Family Day Weekend in South Huron.  Nolan paced the team with a goal in the semi-final win over Listowel and a hat trick in the final against the host South Huron Sabres.  Incredibly, he would finish both games with OT-winning goals.

The Meteors opened tournament play on Friday against the Lucan Irish.  Lucan would open the scoring in the first period, and after a scoreless second period, would make it 2-0 early in the third with a powerplay goal.  Landon Van Bakel would get the Meteors on the board with an unassisted marker moments later.  Charlie Geiger tied the game soon after, and Van Bakel with his second of the game with just under six minutes remaining would prove to be the game-winning goal.
The next round robin and second game of the day for the Meteors was the Blyth-Brussels Crusaders, a team that Mitchell had beaten in league play earlier in the year.  After a scoreless first period, the locals would score first on a goal by Geiger from Nolan.  Jonah Gibbings and Zack Siemon-Hergott would both add insurance markers in the third period for the 3-0 win.  Ryan McGill recorded the shutout between the pipes for Mitchell.
The final round robin game was at 3:30pm on Saturday, facing the Riverside Rangers in a penalty-filled affair that saw a combined total of 38 minutes in penalties handed out.  Nolan would open the scoring midway through the first period, assisted by Cohen Ahrens.  Tied 1-1 after two periods, Van Bakel would score his first of two goals from Kellen Russwurm, adding the second one 29 seconds later assisted by Geiger.  Not done yet, the Meteors kept the offensive pressure on with a goal from Siemon-Hergott from Ahrens.  Geiger from Nolan would add one more before the horn sounded for the 5-1 win that would secure top seed for the Meteors going into the semi-final round on Sunday morning.
Familiar league rival Listowel Cyclones drew the fourth seed, and a Sunday morning matchup with the Meteors who had not beaten them all season in league play.  A scoreless game in regulation led to a five minute overtime of 3-on-3.  Listowel looked to get a break when goaltender McGill left the crease to play the puck and an unlucky bounce led it to the front of the Mitchell net.  A sliding kick-save by Nolan prevented the game-winning goal, and defenseman Russwurm fed him a long stretch pass as he regained his feet and raced down to score the overtime winner to send the Meteors into the finals at 4:05pm.  McGill would notch his second shutout of the tournament.
Mitchell would face the host South Huron Sabres in the final, looking to break the streak of three consecutive Sabre championships in the younger age groups earlier that day.  Locked in a scoreless tie after two periods of play, the teams traded goals for a 2-2 tie after regulation as Nolan would score twice assisted by Geiger and Hudson Porter.  Once again the Meteors found themselves in overtime, setting the stage for Nolan's heroics for the championship win with 51 seconds left, again assisted by Russwurm.  Goaltender Joel Meinen recorded the win in net.