Having lost a heart breaker in the finals of the
Winter Classic Tournament in Mt Forest, the Lockhart Funeral Home Peewee Girls
arrived at South Huron’s Pink the rink looking for gold.
In their first game on Friday, the girls went to work against the Lucan Irish. Controlling the play in what seemed like a titled ice surface; Claire McCorkindale hit pay dirt drilling a shot with 2:44 remaining in the first period. The second period brought about 3 more nuggets by Nicole Haefling, Feltz and McCorkindale (2). These three goals proved to be enough for the Irish to lose all steam allowing Mitchell to strike 5 more times in the third (Charlee Feltz (2), McCorkindale, Dayna Vosper and Maia Stephan). The game ended with a lopsided 9 to 1 win.
In their second game Mitchell met Grand River. This was the very team that stole the Lockhart Peewee Girls claim on the gold at the Mt Forest Winter Classic. The girls came out nervous as Kaylee Seip had to go between the pipes for the first time due to an absent goaltender. Seip however, quickly put the girls at ease making incredible saves by selflessly throwing her body at relentless Grand River shots and players. Seip’s play quickly calmed the girls allowing Vosper to send a rink wide pass to break Stephan free at 5:37 of the first. At 9:30 of the second, Feltz picked the puck in the neutral zone, went wide around the defence and buried the puck. Grand River would quickly rebound and score at 8:40 of the second before McCorkindale, once again went to the trenches and shoveled in the insurance at 5:49 of the second. These three goals would prove all the girls needed as Seip continually shut the Grand River mining efforts down allowing the girls to come out with a 3 to 1 win.
With goaltender Isabelle “Izzy” Campbell back for game three, the girls started to get gold fever and headed in with growing confidence and expectations. Feltz came out flying, excavating the puck out of a front of the net scramble a mere 1 minute and 10 seconds into the game. After that, the girls zeroed in on the net co-ordinates scoring 10 more unanswered goals. Scorers were Feltz (4), Stephan (4) Seip (2) and after two years Mirella was finally present and paying attention for a classic Olivia Bilotta stick down, hard to the net payoff fed by none other than the always positional perfect Haeffling.
The stage was then set for a golden rematch between Grand River and Mitchell. Like the earlier game in the tournament, the girls were set on reclaiming their lost fortunes at the previous Tournament. The game was very tight in the first with end to end action. Finally at 5:37, McCorkindale, with a Marner-esque steal on the half boards, got the puck to Margaret McCarthy. McCarthy exploded down the ice and put a dynamite shot over the butterflying Grand River goalie’s pad. A mere minute later Feltz grabbed an unattended puck in the neutral zone and staked a tally. The next two periods saw Grand River relentlessly attacking Mitchell’s zone. However, Coach Ribsy’s disciplined and calm defence took over. Vosper, Meryl Tourigny, Stephanie Flips Phillips, Elliana Morrison and Bilotta calmly took care of business in the Mitchell end. Countless times the defence calmly skated to the puck and placed it gently to empty areas around the boards. Any time Grand River did manage to break through the Ribsy Fence, Izzy Campbell was there to freeze any inclination Grand River had of jumping Mitchell’s golden claim.
As the clock wound down the Lockhart Funeral Home Peewee Girls were jubilant having beaten the odds and striking it rich with Pink the Rink Gold!
Congratulations Girls!