The Egg Farmers of Ontario Atom B Aces struck gold in Mississauga this weekend and claimed their third tournament championship of the year!
The team started the tournament with a hard fought win over a strong North Halton team. Sydnie Miller scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the first period with a helper from Lauren Taylor. The score remained that way until Reese Reinecker scored an empty-netter with twenty seconds left in the third, as Avery Wildgust provided the assist. The Aces took the game 2-0 on the back of solid defensive play by Adriana Danen and superb goaltending by both goalies, Courtney Lott and Emma Ivey.
Next up for the girls was a match on Saturday against the host team, the Mississauga Chiefs. The Aces opened the scoring just five minutes in with a goal by Sydnie Miller, assisted by Lauren Taylor and Adriana Danen. After Mississauga tied it up, Hailey Goforth scored a pair of second period goals to put the Aces comfortably back in the lead. Jesse Dietrich, Olivia Chartrand and Miller drew assists on the goals. Reese Reinecker added a third period tally assisted by Goforth as the girls went on to win 4-1.
Sunday morning found the girls in an early morning match-up against the Brampton Canadettes. The Aces came to win and put together a commanding performance, taking the game 7-0. Hailey Goforth lead the way with an awesome four goal performance, accompanied by two goals from Lauren Taylor and one from Sydnie Miller. Amelie Saunders, Addison Moir and Reese Reinecker added two assists each to the tally and Lauren Gibb and Olivia Chartrand each added a helper. The defensive play of Danielle Bast and Anika Akroyd-Snider was instrumental in shutting down the Canadettes' and helping to secure the shut-out victory.
After going unbeaten in the round-robin, it was on to the finals for the girls where they would once again be matched up against the North Halton Twisters. This final game was a thriller as both teams definitely came to claim the gold. The Aces played a solid team game for the first two periods and found themselves sitting on a comfortable 3-0 lead going into the third, with Hailey Goforth scoring a pair and Lauren Taylor adding another - Taylor and Reinecker each also added a helper. However, things soon became less than comfortable for the girls as the Twisters mounted a third period comeback and tied things up with less than four minutes to play. Though they definitely felt the pressure, the Stratford girls dug deep and Olivia Chartrand banged home the winning goal off a Hailey Goforth rebound with less than three minutes left on the clock and hung on to win the game 4-3 and thereby secure the championship.
Congratulations girls on another well-deserved gold medal.