What an exciting couple days of hockey
action at the Dairy Queen Challenge Cup Tournament this weekend! The Lockhart Funeral Home Pee Wee LL team played
in Exeter and Huron Park on Friday, January 2nd and Saturday, January
3rd. They competed in four
matches and finished the weekend with one of the most exciting and
disappointing games to date.
GAME 1
Brent SMITH took his place in net while five of his teammates lined up at the red line in the South Huron Rec Centre in Exeter to start their 8:30am game. Our Mitchell boys came ready to play and they dominated on the ice. As the period was nearing the end, Ryker VANDENBROEK got the first goal of the tournament with the assist going to Wade MONDEN. Shortly thereafter, Jesse JUBINVILLE received a perfect pass from Kole HUNT and dumped it in the net to end the period in a 2 to 0 lead over the Lucan Irish.
Period two progressed in much the same manner. Jake WALKER and Curtis CHAFFE both had shots on net giving our team many opportunities to score. Jaden FAULKNER worked hard to get the puck towards the Lucan net. But then a mid-period scramble in front of our net resulted in Lucan netting their first goal and the period ended 2 to 1.
Mitchell had this game in the bag, or so we thought, when suddenly, with just 34 seconds left in play, the luck of the Irish kicked in and they scored. We skated away with a 2 to 2 tie.
GAME 2
Later that same afternoon, the team travelled to the Stephen Township Arena in Huron Park to take on the South Huron Sabres at, the senior’s dining hour of, 4:05pm. Stevie DAUM made the long journey in from Florida, where he had been vacationing, to provide us with his goaltending skills. South Huron had several shots on the jetlagged DAUM, but he managed to ward them all off and we kept the score tied at 0 to 0 after that first period.
The fans were a lively and rowdy bunch during the second period. They cheered on their boys as they skated back and forth from one end of the rink to the other. And just when it looked like this period was going to end in a tie, a déjà vu like play occurred and South Huron scored with just 8.2 seconds left on the clock and ended the period 1 to 0 for them.
The meteors worked hard to try and tie the game up, but South Huron was having none of that and took full advantage of their rebound shots by scoring two more goals which ended the game in a 3 to 0 loss for Mitchell. On the bright side, for the fans, this is definitely the warmest arena in Huron and Perth counties.
GAME 3
After a good night sleep, the bright eyed meteors returned to Huron Park for an 11:45am game against their rivals the BCH Ice Dogs. SMITH returned to the net where he would spend most of the first period a little bored as his teammates decided to play in BCH’s end of the rink. You know that only good things are to come when your team fires shot after shot at the opponent’s net. Finally, WALKER scored, top shelf, with the assistance of the persistent Solomon KOERT. Shortly thereafter, JUBINVILLE passed the puck to Carter YOST who snuck it in past the goalie to end this period on a high with a 2 to 0 lead.
It was obvious by the way these boys were playing that they were both listening to their coach’s wisdom and applying it to their game. They were working as a united team. There was no stopping them. They continued to take control of this game. It was an awesome sight! Jackson THORPE played a strong defensive role and held off the Ice Dogs on more than one occasion to prevent them from scoring. Denzyl FINLAYSON, also defense, resembles a brick wall by rarely letting the puck past him and on the rare occasion he does he always beats his opponent back to the puck. Credit must also be given to the red goal post that saved two shots on net during this period. It’s still 2 to 0 for us.
The third period provided a little more action for SMITH, but nothing he couldn’t handle. CHAFFE used his speed to move the puck back to the other end and made numerous shots on net, but no more goals were needed as our boys skated away with a 2 to 0 win and a shut out for SMITH. This put us in 4th place, so off to the quarter final game we would go.
GAME 4 – QUARTER FINAL
The quarter final game was held in Exeter at 6:15pm against the 5th place team, who just happened to be the team we just played and beat, the BCH Ice Dogs. What could go wrong?
DAUM was back in net and the meteors were hungry for the win. 43 seconds into the first period BCH scored. Wait, what?! This is not how this game is supposed to go. Soon after, an Ice Dog made his way to the bad box and the meteors were on the power play. However, you wouldn’t know it as they couldn’t seem to get the puck out of their end. Four seconds after their opponents got back to full strength they scored again. Back to the red line they all skated. The Mitchell fans cheered with their hoarse voices and the meteors refused to give up. Two minutes later KOERT made his way to the net, passed the puck to HUNT and SCORE!!!! The crowd went wild and the boys picked up their game. The period ended 2 to 1 for them.
SMITH is now in net for the second period. THORPE carried the puck from one end to the other with a pass to KOERT, he shoots and misses. The whistle blew and now DAUM is back in net. Reilly MURRAY worked hard to move the puck out of our end. Will STEINBACH shoots and misses. YOST shoots and misses. MONDEN shoots and misses. KOERT shoots and misses. We needed a goal and it was not for lack of trying, but it just was not happening and this period ended the same as the first, 2 to 1…for them.
The meteors fought to the bitter end of that last period. 00:03, 00:02, 00:01, SCORE!!! OMG!! The puck is in the net, the buzzer sounds, the ref is making that unmistakable motion that a goal has occurred, THORPE is ecstatic as he just scored the tying goal and his teammates are wild, sticks are banging and Mitchell fans are screaming with what little voices they have left. And then, like a bad dream, the decision was changed or “clarified” and the win went to the BCH Ice Dogs. Now they celebrated. And, we were left feeling disappointed and robbed. We dug deep into our memory banks for what we had learned during that on-line Respect in Sport course and we cheered on our boys as they skated off the ice.
A tie, a loss, a win and a loss. Two days of team building, fun and a lot of great memories. Great job boys! You are all winners in our books. Keep up the great work!
Oh, and, who had the best seat in the house for that last “unofficial” goal. That’s right, the Zamboni (ice resurfacer) guy.