The Mitchell Dodge Caravan Kids Novice LL1 team wrapped up an
exciting season in winning fashion with a 6-game winning streak and were named
champions of the Marci Cook Memorial Tournament in Simcoe this past weekend (March
16,17,18).
The Meteor’s played their final 2 playoff games of the year on March 9 & 10 against the Mitchell LL2 team and the Zurich Thunder respectively. The tie-breaker game against the LL2s didn’t disappoint early, but the LL2 squad would take an early 1 to 0 lead at the end of the 1st. The 'Dynamic Duo' of Ray Wolfe and Hudson Porter would tie things up in the 2nd with Wolfe on the scoring end of a nifty passing play from Porter. The duo would strike again in the period with a 2nd assist from Braden Baxter and the LL1s would take a 2 to 1 lead. The boys couldn’t hang on in the third period as the LL2 team caught fire taking advantage of 3 power plays and scored 4 unanswered goals to win the game 5 to 3. On Saturday afternoon the Meteor’s traveled to Zurich for their final playoff tilt and came away with a narrow 2 to 1 victory thanks to strong team play all around and some spectacular saves by goalie Carter Harris.
This past weekend the Meteor’s traveled to Simcoe to play in the Marci Cook Memorial Tournament, their first game was on Friday afternoon vs the East Lambton Eagles. Mitchell got off to a fast start thanks to defensive pressure via Jack Crowley, Lucas Bree, Reegan Vessie and Tyler Burtenshaw, from there our forward play took over and was too much for the Eagles as Mitchell cruised to a 4 to 0 victory. Game #2 of round robin play on Saturday morning was against the home town Simcoe Warriors. The Meteor’s dominated this one from the start, in a game that saw every player on the score sheet, in the end Mitchell downed the hometown favourites 9 to 1. In game #3 slot of the round robin was the Harrow Rams, this game would prove more competitive for the Meteor’s as the 2 teams dueled to a scoreless 1st period. But fear not, after a quick intermission pep talk from the coaching staff Mitchell scored 2 goals in the first 30 seconds of the 2nd period and never looked back finishing the Rams off with a 5 to 2 win. After a fun filled night in the hotel rooms the boys were up early for an 8am start to their semi-final game. Chants of “just one more movie” the night before didn’t seem to phase the Meteor’s as Quiade Hoskin (2 Goals!) put the team on his back and they annihilated Simcoe 16 to 0. Hoskin’s performance must have ignited the rest of the team as everyone made the score sheet multiple times and yet another shut out by Harris. To win the championship Mitchell was going to have to get through the East Lambton Eagles once again. Both teams were hungry for the rights to the plaque and came out strong but skated to a scoreless 1st period. In the 2nd the Meteor’s struck first with Hudson Porter winning the opening face-off back to Tyler Burtenshaw who skated up the ice and passed back to Porter who beat the goalie to make it 1 – 0 all in a span of 13 seconds! The Meteor’s would take a 2 – 0 lead when Ray Wolfe scored on assists from Porter and Dylan Dietrich. In the 3rd Mitchell ‘walked-away’ with 3 more unanswered goals from Bryson Eickmeyer, Wolfe and Jack Crowley, with assists coming from Burtenshaw, Connor Wolfe, Nolan Rolph and Luke Krempien. It goes without saying that the strong play of Carter Harris helped the team immensely for this tournament as he finished with 3 shut-outs and only allowed 3 goals over 5 games. Game MVP award went to Tyler Burtenshaw. All in all it was a great tournament for the Meteor’s and a great way to cap off the season. Overall the boys finished the season with an amazing 31 – 10 record!
The parents and players would like to thank the coaching staff and team managers for all their help this year, it takes hours of dedication and time out of already busy schedules to make the season go off without a hitch.