New Orleans Pizza Peewee Reps Take Aim at 57th Annual Mitchell Peewee Tournament.
The New Orleans Pizza Peewees opened up the tournament Friday morning making full use of the ‘Get Out of School Free Card’ by hosting Twin Centers to kick off the weekend tourney schedule.
Both sides would hold each other in check in the opening frame keeping things scoreless and splitting the period by period point system allocation.
Jacob McPhee put the Meteors ahead with an unassisted short-handed goal to open the second period. Just over two minutes later McPhee and Ryan Murray set up Judd Walker to put the host team in front 2-0. Twin Centers found themselves in penalty trouble for the balance of the game allowing Mitchell to capitalize as a two man advantage ended late in the third when Riley Sykes jammed in a loose puck to give the home town favorites a 3-0 win. Assists on the final goal went to the defense pairing of Reid Ramseyer and Ryan Harmer. Tanner Knechtel backstopped the shutout and McPhee was named Player of the Game.
Later that afternoon the Meteors would take on the Mildmay Monarchs. Midway through the first period Mildmay cashed in on a power play goal to take the early lead. Through the balance of the first and second period the game would see end to end action with Riley Deline holding down the fort for the Meteors. The Monarchs would get a lucky break on a high shot from the point that was going wide and was somehow deflected over the shoulder of a screened Deline. Mildmay made it 3-0 halfway through the third jumping on a Mitchell turnover at the blue line. Mitchell cracked the scoreboard less than a minute later with Walker getting the puck to McPhee who in turn beat the Monarch backstop high on the short side from a sharp angle. The game would end 3-1 with Mildmay taking 4.5 of the possible 5 points. Walker was named Player of the Game.
Saturday morning Mitchell would play Blyth-Brussels in the Monkton satellite rink. Early in the first Stephen Bird put the Meteors up 1-0 with a fine shot from the point coming off a face-off win by Lockhart and a feed from Quaid Austin. The second period was scoreless for both sides. In the final period Ryan Murray would fade to open ice to receive a pass and display enough patience to pick his spot high on the blocker side of the Bulldogs netminder. Bird and Walker earned assists. Tanner Knechtel was once again rock solid in net coming away with his second shutout in as many games giving the local boys a 2-0 win and a trip to the tournament semi final scheduled later that Saturday night. Knechtel was named Player of the Game.
There still is Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights and on this night it was the Mitchell Meteors taking on Stayner in the second semi-final feature. The opening half of the period was a fast paced affair by both teams only to be interrupted by a Stayner penalty. On the ensuing power play Harmer would get the puck to Jake Preszcator in the neutral zone who then muscled his way down the boards, into the corner finally cutting back out in front of the net fending off countless attackers and still managed to get a shot on net. A rebound kicked out to a perfectly positioned Sykes who made no mistake giving the Meteors a 1-0 lead. In the second period while down a man Preszcator gave the puck to workhorse Jacob Rauser who put his nose down and barreled through three defenders maintaining possession all the way to the net ultimately being rewarded for his efforts putting the home side up 2-0. With less than four minutes to go Murray made a big open ice hit to cause a turn over while killing a Mitchell penalty. Walker pounced on the loose puck and carried it in over the Stayner line. While fending off a defenseman he threaded a pass over to Murray who notched another goal for Mitchell putting them up 3-0. Stayner would reply with a late power play goal to make it 3-1. Mitchell held on for the victory and advanced to the championship game slated for Sunday afternoon in a rematch with the Mildmay Monarchs. Quaid Austin was named Player of the Game.
In the tournament championship final the Meteors were looking to overturn an earlier round robin loss to the Monarchs. Both teams kept each other at bay limiting any serious scoring threats until late in the first period when Mildmay was able to break out of their end with a 2 on 1 and turn it into a 1-0 lead. Only 26 seconds later they made it 2-0 just before the period ended. In the first minute of the second frame the Meteors’ Jacob Deck set up Murray for a power play goal to cut the lead in half. Unfortunately for the hometown favorite that was the only marker they could muster up and Mildmay added further insurance in the middle and final frames to skate away with the Championship banner and a 4-1 victory. Judd Walker was named Player of the Game. The Meteors took home the Finalist banner thanks to their hard work and solid net-minding through the five games.
GREAT WEEKEND BOYS! AWESOME JOB!!