Oct 27, 2019 | Mark Burtenshaw | 1218 views
Paris Minor Hockey - Rob Johnston Memorial Rep Tournament
This past weekend (Oct 25 to 27) the Thompsons Mitchell Atom AE Meteors became tournament champions at the Rob Johnston Memorial.
This weekend (October 25 - 27) the Thompsons Mitchell Atom AE team traveled to picturesque Paris, Ontario to participate in the Rob Johnston Memorial. In the Friday matinee the Meteors drew the home town Paris Wolfpack. The first period would end in a scoreless tie with scoring chances from each team denied by solid goal tending, including the Meteors goalie Sebastian Voros. The second period was a completely different story. With Carter McAsh entering the final year of his contract he want to show teams he still has a future in this league and scored 2 of his natural hat trick goals with assists coming from Ellie MacArthur and Ray Wolfe for both. McAsh's third period goal had helpers from Wolfe and Lucas Bree to make it a 3 - 0 game. The Meteors kept the pressure on with a pretty passing play when Lukas DeJong passed it to Wolfe who in turn found a wide open D-liner Tyler Burtenshaw at the point, Burtenshaw found the low corner through traffic to make it a 4 - 0 game. Paris would steal the shut out from Voros a minute later, but Wolfe would answer with 2:53 left in the period to cap a game high 5 point night!
On Saturday morning the Meteors played the early game vs a strong Strathroy Jr. Rockets. The Meteors looked a little sluggish to start things off, but they did all physically show up to the game....represented by only one parent, Bryson Eickmeyer was tested several times early in the game, but one finally slipped through and put the Jr. Rockets up 1 - 0. However, seven seconds later Caleb Pennings from Lukas DeJong would tie it up. Carter McAsh would strike early in the second period to give Mitchell the 2 - 1 lead, with the assist going to Ellie MacArthur. The third period was a back and forth battle when Strathroy pulled their goalie with a minute to play and in the end the extra attacker made the difference when they managed to tie the game up with only 7 seconds left. A great game by both teams.
In game 3 vs another very strong team the Meteors faced the Kincardine Kinucks. This back and forth game would end in a 1 - 0 victory for Mitchell when forward Cole Templeman would knock in a loose puck at the 7:58 mark of the first period. The win would narrowly put Mitchell in the 1st seed going into the semi-final game.
In the semi final game Mitchell would face off against the Listowel Cyclones. The Meteors came out the strongest we've seen all year, they played the perfect first period with everyone chipping in on both ends of the ice. The first goal came at the 4:57 mark of the first period when Ray Wolfe let loose a strong cross ice wrist shot beating the Cyclones goalie high on his blocker side, assisted by Cole Templeman and Logan Montgomery. Not letting their foot off the gas for a second Mitchell increased their lead 24 seconds later when Carter McAsh scored on a nice pass from Ellie MacArther. That would be all the Meteors needed to secure the win. Our defensive lines from DeJong, Burtenshaw, Bree, Hubbard and Gibbings stood strong blocking every attack the Cyclones tried. Bryson Eickmeyer earned the shutout stopping all 14 shots he faced.....off to the finals!!
The Meteors would once again face the Kincardine Kinucks team in the championship game...(that's 2 championship games in as many weeks!!) Even though it was the fifth game for each team the adrenaline was pumping and both teams wanted the victory. It would be the Meteors that struck first at 4:44 of the first period with Max Brodhagen knocking in a loose puck with helpers from Tyler Burtenshaw and Zoey Michel. But, 27 seconds later Kincardine would answer and tie the game up at the 4:17 mark. With momentum slightly shifting to the Meteors side Ellie MacArthur would show her strength and relentless determination in front of the net and knock in a rebound just 13 seconds later to put the Meteors back on top 2 - 1. The scoreless second period saw lots of good opportunities on both ends but Sebastian Voros stayed sharp and caught everything the Kinucks could throw at him. The third period would see all the buildings defibrillators in stand-by mode as the fans had all they could take! With 2:50 remaining in the third period the Meteors would take a penalty and Kincardine immediately called a time out to pull their goalie giving them a 6 to 4 man advantage. The Meteors held strong changing lines as often as they could to keep fresh legs on the ice but at the 1:35 mark with 4 Kinucks in front of the net they put home a rebound and tied the game. With overtime on everyone's mind....except for...wait for it....Reegan Vessie takes a pass up the side from Ben Hubbard and earned his 'Flash' nickname by beating everyone including the goalie with a perfectly timed and perfectly placed shot in the corner of the net with 23 seconds remaining in the period to give the Meteors a 3 - 2 lead! Yes, 23 seconds is still a lot of time in Atom hockey but Ray Wolfe would put all the Mitchell fans at ease adding the empty netter with 10 seconds remaining and as the horn sounded the gloves and sticks were thrown into the air and the team pile-up ensued, the Meteors were tournament champions! Accepting the championship trophy was veteran leader Lucas Bree who commented after the game "we knew we had it in us to do great things on the ice, our coaches put together a great plan and we all executed as a team". Great work Meteors, this win capped off a a very successful 10 games in 2 weeks with an astounding record of 7 - 1 - 2. Good luck next weekend vs the Cyclones in regular season play.