The Larry Hudson Chevrolet Midget LL boys took part in the Aylmer Christmas Cup Challenge this past Thursday December 29th and made it into the A Final, only to fall short against a tough Lucan team to be the runner up.
We would start our quest in the Christmas Cup Challenge against Tavistock shortly after 9am, winner moved on to the A side of the tournament and that is exactly where we wanted to go! As warm up was done and the lines set, the puck was dropped and off they went. Right from the faceoff, our boys controlled the puck very well and playing most the period in their end. Half way thru the opening period, Tristan Beehler would get us on the board from the playmaking of Curtis Edit. Nice start, let’s keep this pace going! As the period came to the end, we found ourselves leading 1-0. Second period was played like the first period with us controlling the play and not giving them many chances to shoot on our goalie James Copeland. As the time counted off the clock, Trevor DeJong would add to our lead from line mates Eric Dearing and Brandan Boville. Within a few minutes, Zeke Koert wanted to add his marker to the game and he did just that from Trevor DeJong’s pass. Great effort boys! With two periods in the book and just 15 minutes left in the game, we felt confident that this was going to be a win for us. The quick pace started once again in the final period and with shot after shot being taken on that Tavistock goalie, Kurtis Forrest would net one to add to our lead from the passing of Curtis Edit and Tristan Beehler around the net. Now, you could see some frustration set in for Tavistock and they would surrender another goal within 20 seconds to Zeke Koert. Wow, there is no stopping you boys now! Jackson McArthur and Nate Baker would earn the assists. As we continued to play, we let our guard down and Tavistock took their advantage and got one pass our goalie, too bad boys, not to worry, you got this! The game would end with us winning 5-1 and moving us into the A side of the tournament.
Since our win, we had a nice break of time to check out the local area and grab a bit to eat. We all gather back in the arena around 2pm to get ready for our next battle, Port Dover. Another team that we have not faced in regular season so we didn’t really know what to expect. The teams lined up and away we went. As we seem to start this game a bit slow, Port Dover would get on the scoreboard first and score the only goal of the period. As the period continue so did the tempers and penalties for Port Dover. They spent a few minutes in the sin bin. The second period started much better for us as we seemed to have a bit of a fire and drive to our play. With Port Dover still spending a lot of time in the sin bin, we would take advantage off the stick of Kurtis Forrest to score from the quick puck passing from Curtis Edit and Tristan Beehler. The end of the second period would end with the score all squared up at 1. With a quick chat from the bench staff and the cheer from the crowd, the puck was dropped in this final period of play. With the play in the opposition’s end, Zeke Koert passed the puck back to the blue line onto the stick of Clayton McCarthy and he riffled the shot and beat the goalie, awesome shot, I don’t even think the goalie seen it coming. Nice, we were leading 2-1 with the momentum in our favour. With time, almost out, Jackson McArthur would add his touch to the game with our third goal to secure the win. Congratulations boys, with your win 3-1, that moved the boys into the A Final later that night against an undefeated team from Lucan.
The ice was clean and ready for this final to start. We had heard from other teams that Lucan would be tough but we were up to the challenge. Lucan was quick and they showed us that right from the get go and would beat our goalie to start the scoring. After the first period, we were down 1-0. The second period was played very similar to the first with us giving up another goal. That’s ok boys, still plenty of time to come back. The third period was tough, we had many man advantages as Lucan was continually in the sin bin but just couldn’t seem to get anything working in our favour. Lucan would score a couple of empty nets to increase their lead but we would answer back by scoring a couple of goals. Great work as they hadn’t had any goals scored on them during the other couple of games of this tournament. Tristan Beehler and Brandan Boville would each earn their name on the game sheet with Clayton McCarthy grabbing the assist. The game would end with us on the losing side 5-2 but great team effort all around for the day.