Coming off a 2-1-2 stretch the Tru Country & Garden Novice Girls were ready to make their appearance at the Pink on the Rink tournament held in South Huron this past weekend.
The Tru Country & Garden Novice Girls made their presence known in the first game of the tournament defeating Kincardine 10-0. Kincardine and Mitchell were head to head in the first period but then at 8:01 in the second Danielle Harmer scored the first goal assisted by Jade Huygen which opened the flood gates for the rest. Three more goals were scored in the second Ashley McLeod with two and Kara Rolph with a single assists added by Harmer and Jessie Horan. Alissa Insley, Haileigh Templeman, Huygen, Rachel Haefling, Mcleod for the hat trick and then Huygen again finished the scoring in the third. Assists were added by Rolph (2), Vanderkuylen, Harmer, Insley and Huygen. Grace Kipfer ended this game with her first shutout of the tournament.
The next would be challenge for the Girls, playing their second game of the day we took on the South Huron Sabres. With a lot of end to end rushes for both sides Kipfer had to keep her wits about her stopping multiple shots to keep her team in the game. Huygen opened the scoring in the first to give us the go ahead goal. End to End play continued until the third when Harmer snipped the insurance goal to give the girls a 2-0 lead. With solid defense and stellar goal tending the Tru Country & Garden Novice Girls were able to hold the lead and defeat the Sabres; Kipfers second straight shutout of the tournament.
After a good nights sleep, the girls had to again play Kincardine in the semi-finals. The girls battled hard and kept the play deep the Kincardine's end for the majority of the game. With some excellent defensive positioning from Heather Ogilvie, Rylee Kipfer, Peyton Vanderkuylen and Jessie Horan Kincardine had no chance to gain any momentum. Huygen opened the scoring with a nice dangle beating the opposing goalie late in the second and Tegan Mace with some excellent positioning tucked home the insurance goal in the third. With key saves by Kipfer (now her third straight shutout of the tournament) the girls were able to defeat Kincardine 2-0.
The Finals took place on Sunday afternoon against a tough Ilderton Jets team. The girls were pumped and ready to battle. With lots of puck battles along the boards and in the corners the girls were giving it their all. Ilderton opened the scoring late in the first but the girls never gave up. The second period was again a tough grind for the girls winning lots of the battles but not getting the bounces needed to tie the game. The second period ended with Ilderton still up one. The third was a mirror image of the first two, lots of battles, shots and saves in both ends, then with about a minute and a half left in the third Harmer started the rush from our end taking the puck and making a beautiful pass to Rolph who made no mistake, shooting the puck beating the Ilderton goalie to tie the game. The third ended in a 1-1 tie. Five minutes on the clock for sudden death overtime. And again, the play was back and forth, Kipfer made some excellent saves to carry her team to the shootout round. The shootout was intense, with both goalies showing off their talent, it took 11 rounds of shooters to decide this nail biter of a game. The Tru Country & Garden Novice Girls came out of the tournament winning the silver medal.
Congratulations on your silver medal girls, your aggressiveness and team work was outstanding.