This past weekend the Dunny’s Source for Sports Aces PeeWee A hockey team travelled to Sarnia to defend their last season championship win.
We knew it was going to be a longshot as the 2 top ranked teams in the province were also going to be there. So we set a goal of reaching the semi-finals as our target going in.
The first game was against Belle Tire, a team from Detroit. Not knowing much about this team the Aces came out guns a blazing. Avery scored less than 2 minutes in on passes from Feore and KD. It was almost 8 minutes later when Sadie put one in on passes from Olivia and Avery. Olivia added 1 more with just 5 seconds left in the period with Clara L. and KD assisting on the goal. The second period saw many of chances, but no goals for the Aces. They started off the third with a goal from Anna, and assisted by Maddog and Jack. It looked like the Aces were going to walk away with this one, but when you get a little to overconfident and stop playing as hard things can go wrong, and they did. Belle Tire found the net 3 times before the end of the third to make it a close 4-3 game when they never should have. We out shot them 29-8, but if you don’t maintain your focus in this game things can turn around on you pretty fast.
The next game was against the London Minors, who the Aces have won every game against this year. We warned the girls that if they didn’t maintain focus and didn’t play their best that this team could beat us. The Minors made it interesting by getting the first goal, but Anna scored on assists from Ashlyn and Clara S., and Olivia put one in unassisted to end the first ahead 2-1. The Minors tied it up in the second, then took the lead in the third. But the girls stuck with it and Olivia put in another unassisted to tie it. Then Eve would score the game winner on assists from Sadie and Chandler. The Aces second 4-3 victory of the tourney.
Saturday morning we had our third game against Sarnia. A win or tie would put us in first place in our pool. Both teams started out fairly well, but it was Sarnia tha stuck first to take the lead. Moving into the second down one Sarnia started to turn it up a notch. The Aces managed to tie it up after Sadie put in a rebound from Ashlyn’s shot from the point. We were being outplayed, and Sarnia quickly regained the lead shortly after. Even though in the second period most of the play was in our end we still managed to tie it up before it ended with a backhand through the legs by Avery on a rebound shot by Neave . The Aces got back in the game and had a better third to keep the tie in place. The game ended 2-2 and we had first place wrapped up in our pool.
First place landed us a game against the Oakville Minors. They finished 4th in their pool and should have been an easy game to the semis. However, this game was somewhat like the game against Belle Tire. We again outplayed them, by outshooting them 29-8, but we just had trouble putting the puck in the net. We did get the first when Bach and Feore got the puck to Maddog, who put one high over the goalie’s blocker. Oakville would tie it in the second on a breakaway goal. Jack made a solo effort up the ice and put one high off the post and in. Cheif would stop the rest of the pucks that came her way, and so would the Oakville goalie. A 2-1 win for the Aces was enough to advance to the semis for a game against the London Majors.
Just like we have owned the Minors by winning all games against them, the Majors have owned us, beating us every time we have met. Determined to change this the girls started out looking for a win, but so did the Majors. They outplayed us in the first, but the score remained 0-0 with some great goaltending from Mia. The Majors found the net first early in the second, and they continued to outplay us. However, after Olivia gained the zone and made some moves to get to the net she lost the puck in front, but it was picked up by Clara L. who put it in the net. The second ended tied at 1 a piece. Looking to take the lead the girls lost focus for 2 min in the third and the strong Majors took advantage by putting 3 goals in. This is how the the game would end 4-1 for the Majors.
Even though the loss was disappointing, we set a goal to make it to the semis and we accomplished this goal. The Majors went on to win the tournament, so knowing you lost to the champs isn’t that hard to take. It wasn’t always the prettiest, but the girls won and tied the games they needed to. We are proud of you and hope for more of the goals we set to be reached before the end of the season!
The Bench Staff