Dec 09, 2015 | Lynda | 1662 views
2015 Murray Johnson Tournament-'A' Champions
2015 Murray Johnson Tournament-'A' Champions
Pee wee Local League 8
Had a fantastic weekend!
Our first game was played in Hagersville on home ice against Port Dover Pirates.
This game was a nail biter, as both teams played extremely well.
Hagersville worked really hard at this game with our goalie Riley Burman making great saves. Our
defense worked hard as well.
Jake Laforme opened the scoring with a beautiful goal to give us a 1-0 at the end of the first. The Pirates
answered back in the 2nd to send this game into the third period tied at 1.
The third period brought lots of back and forth action with great saves and plays at both ends. Eventually
Port Dover broke thru and banged in a rebound to take a 2-1 lead late in the 3rd. With the time ticking
down and a sense of desperation amongst the players, Hagersville pulled their goalie to get an extra
attacker on the ice and it paid off perfectly. Noah Herkimer let a brilliant wrist shot from the point go that
avoiding everything and found the top of the net. Tie game. 36 seconds left.
As the final time ticked off the clock the kids knew exactly what this meant. Shoot-out time. After the first
shooter from Port Dover scored, it was up to Jake as the 2nd Hagersville shooter to tie it up, and he did
just that with a great deke. After the goalies each made some saves this brought us to a 4th shooter in a
sudden death format. As the Pirates shooter was coming down and having his shot stopped by Riley,
again, Elliot Veld was making his way down the ice and making the Pirates goalie look silly with an
incredible deke (thanks for the tip from the crowd) to win the game for Hagersville. What a way to get the
tournament kicked off.
Game 2
Alymer vs Hagersville
Hagersville once again on home ice showed terrific team work, and they sure proved they wanted to win!
In the first period Elliot Veld scored our first goal of the game.(Assisted by Delanee Denato, and Logan
Mendes). However, this did not stop Alymer from tying the game up with a goal of their own a few minutes
later.
The 2nd period brought exciting fast paced hockey and Hagersville was rewarded for their efforts with an
under the weather Laney Mitchell banging one in to give Hagersville the lead again. Assists on the play
went to Jake Laforme and Ethan Walton. For the remainder of the 2nd period and into the 3rd it was the
Riley Burman show, as he turned away Alymer time after time as Hagersville hung onto a 2-1 lead.
Hagersville stretched their lead to 3-1 halfway thru the 3rd period with Delanee Donato potting her first of
the season with Walton picking up his 2nd assist of the game.
Late in the 3rd with time running down, Jake Laforme putting the icing on the cake with Brayden Topp and
Elliot Veld drawing assists.
Final Score 4-1 Hagersville Restaurant and a trip to the ‘A’ Final
Game 3 lead us to Caledonia ice for the finals.
Dunnville Mudcats vs Hagersville Restaurant.
This game was absolutely unbelievable.
This game played out exactly as one would expect from an ‘A’ final. Both teams came out flying and
passes were going tape to tape all over the ice. The Dunnville goalie had an answer for everything we
threw at him as we pressured Dunnville early. Dunnville picked up their intensity and Riley Burman
proved himself to be the star goalie he is, turning away everything Dunnville had to offer. Thru the 1st
period it was scoreless but nonetheless extremely exciting. As the 2nd period started up it was more of the
same with the goalies continuing to be the stars of the show stealing saves after saves from both teams.
3rd period and it is still a scoreless battle and the teams begin to wonder if maybe a shootout will be
necessary to determine the Champion.
With under 4 minutes to go and Hagersville buzzing around the Dunnville net, they finally broke thru with
Delanee Donato pouncing on a rebound and stuffing it in. Assists on the goal go to Ethan Walton and
Jake Laforme.
As the clock is running down, Dunnville is applying serious pressure and Riley is playing lights out.
Dunnville decided to pull their goalie but the strategy back-fired as Hagersville was able to battle and fight
along the boards to clear the zone and Jake Laforme was able to set off a frenzy of happy kids with an
empty net goal to make it 2-0 with 10 seconds to go. Brayden Topp and Elliot Veld picked up the assists
on the goal that made all the kids a little less nervous. All that was left was to run out the final 10 seconds
and let the kids celebrate their first tournament of the season with an ‘A’ Championship.
Thank you to all who came out to support our team in this awesome tournament!
We are so proud of everyone of our players!
They all played amazing
by: Joanne