The Scotiabank Bantam LL team travelled to Clifford on Saturday, January 24, 2015 for a one-day tournament. Surprisingly, they were one of the closest teams to the arena and as such had to play the first game of the day at 8:00 a.m.
Despite the fact that the boys were still wiping the sleep from their eyes as they skated onto the rink, they took an early lead in their game against Wingham. Just a couple minutes in Tristan BEEHLER placed their first goal, unassisted, right between the pipes. Mitchell got the next goal too; unfortunately it went into Mitchell’s net which left the teams tied at the end of the first period. The second period belonged to Mitchell as they scored two more goals to take the lead. Nate BAKER scored the first goal which was assisted by Jackson MACARTHUR. Kurtis FORREST scored the second which was assisted by BEEHLER. They finished the second period 3 to 1 us. Then things started to fall apart in the third. Mitchell spent too much time keeping the bench warm in the penalty box and, as a result, Wingham took advantage scoring four more goals, on their own this time, and ended the game 5 to 3 them.
The next game was against Arran Elderslie at 1:15pm. Winning this game was a must in order to advance to the finals. So, just like the first game, Mitchell started off with the first goal. Jake MONDEN netted this puck with the assist going to MACARTHUR. Arran Elderslie took the wind out of Mitchell’s sails just thirteen short seconds later when they tied up the game. The boys knew they needed this win, so with the assistance of Nic BAKER and Kurtis FORREST, Eric DEARING got the lead back for his boys and they ended the period 2 to 1. Despite efforts from both teams the puck could not find its way into either net during the second period and the score remained the same. Things were looking good for Mitchell, but just to make sure BEEHLER and FORREST, who has been on fire all game, set up the play enabling DEARING to score one last goal. They ended with a win, 3 to 1, which meant they were off to the finals.
The exciting final game against Ayr took place at 6:30 p.m. These evenly matched teams kept the first period scoreless leaving their fans on the edge of their seats. Mitchell did not get the first goal of the game this time, but with just 49 seconds left in the second Ben HART tied up the game for his team with the assists going to MONDEN and Hayden ADAIR. Mitchell was back in this game and both teams battled hard during the third. A Mitchell player felt shame in the bad box for a head contact penalty, but fortunately his teammates held off their opponents until they were back to full strength. Three and a half minutes later Mitchell was on the power play. Try as they did, they just could not get one past their opponent’s goalie. The power play was over and within seconds Ayr took the lead. Reid DEGROOT did not have a chance as the puck travelled at lightning speed from the point to the back of our net. With a minute and a half until the final buzzer of the day, the coaches pulled DEGROOT from our net sending MONDEN, DEARING, MACARTHUR, Des FINLAYSON and the BAKER twins out to ascend on their net. These six boys dominated in Ayr’s end of the rink firing shot after shot but that goalie put up a wall and blocked everything we fired at him. The buzzer sounded and we skated away with a hard fought 2 to 1 loss.
Great effort boys!