The Perth Auto Dismantlers Stratford Novice
Aces hockey team proved that with a lot of will and determination that anything
is possible this past weekend at the Mississauga Chiefs 32nd Annual
Girls hockey tournament.
With only a handful of second year players on this year’s team the start to the season has been far from stellar, and wins have been at a minimum. While working very hard at practice and continually working on their skating, shooting, and positioning drills it all started to come together for the girl’s in game one against the Waterloo Ravens.
After falling down 1-0 late in the first period the girls fought back hard for a 2-2 tie with 2 goals by Lauren Taylor, assisted by Jordie Smith, Brooklyn Chadwick, and Olivia Chartrand. Excellent defence was played by Addison Moir and Lauren Dekok helped keep the Ravens out of our end zone for most of the game.
Game number 2 found the Aces matched up against one of the strongest teams in the Central West Division the North Halton Twisters. After Stratford scoring in the first minute of the game with a goal from Lauren Taylor, North Halton quickly came back with two unanswered goals late in the first to go up 2-1. A goal by Jordie Smith and assist from Reese Reinecker at the start of the third for Stratford tied the game at two. Despite Stratford hitting not one but 2 goal posts in the third, once again the game ended in a 2-2 tie. Excellent goal tending was played by Courtney Lott, Jesse Dietrich and Olivia Chartrand where strong on defence while Reese Reinecker, Alexa Hahn, Anna Tigani, and Megan Bach skated hard on forward.
Game number three found the Aces on the verge of elimination in a must win game against the Brampton Canadettes. The girls fought hard right off the bat and by midway through the second they found themselves up 2-0 with goals from Taylor and Smith . In the third Brampton scored cutting Stratford’s lead to just one, but the Aces answered quickly with another goal scored by Jordie Smith, her second of the game to go up 3-1 and win the game to advance to the gold medal game. Lauren Gibb had one of her strongest games on defence while Nicole Hahn had a great shot on net.
The gold medal game found the Ace’s one again matched up against the North Halton Twisters. Both teams came out to play hard and despite some great scoring opportunities from both teams the score remained 0-0 until late in the third when Lauren Taylor scored on her own rebound to put the team up 1-0. From that point on Courtney Lott shut the door in net while Reese Reinecker and Avery Wildgust helped keep the puck in North Haltons end. With one minute to go North Halton pulled their goalie to put on the extra attacker but the strong willed Ace’s combined with their great fan support held them off and as the buzzer went they were champions.
Going into this tournament the Stratford Aces were for sure the underdogs and were not expected to advance to the final game let alone win the tournament, but they proved to themselves that you don’t have to have the most talent, or the most size, or best skating ability. What you need to have is the desire and will to dig deep down inside and put your best effort forward, and this is what the “little girls that could” did! A congratulation to the Novice Ace’s on your win!!
Written by Coach Scott Wildgust