The Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Rep started out the 45th Guelph PowerPlay Tournament with a game against the Dundas Blues Friday morning.
Ryan Middegaal again kindly joined the team to help out and the forwards were up for the challenge of an 8 man roster.
The game began with a lot of pressure by the Blues in our end. Warriors fans were silenced early with a goal 1 minute into the game for Dundas. We had faith though that our team would get back in the game quickly and they did not disappoint! The score became 1-1 after Sam Jeffrey got the puck to Kaden Brame and he put it in between the pipes. The fans cheered loudly to be back to an even game. Danny Van Straaten had some good chances throughout the period with many shots that were glove saves by the Dundas goalie. The period was coming to an end when Jared Gould, Van Straaten and Brame pumped up the pressure. Wes Duiker was helping from the defensive side by keeping it in the Blues end. Duiker got a pass to Gould who took a shot. The rebound popped out and there was Van Straaten ready to put it home! The score was now 2-1.
The second period saw Colton Gibson put to the test when a 3-1 bore down on him. He forced a wide shot but then the puck bounced around and seemed for sure like it was going to coast in but one of the Warriors scooped it out before the whistle! The first penalty of the game was a bit bizarre. The ref blew his whistle, raised his hand and started counting players – yep Dundas had been playing with 6 players for about 10 seconds until anyone realized!! The puck had really stayed in the Dundas end that whole time despite the extra player – nice job boys. The power play pushed hard and right near the end we saw a goal by Jake Heinbuch from Owen Holloway and Kaden Brame. The Warriors did not relent their offensive efforts despite being up 3-1. Van Straaten and Gould kept skating hard and generating many shots. Duiker was keeping up his strong defensive work and quick feet to move the puck.
The fans were impressed by both teams so far with a really clean and sportsmanlike game. There was a lot of action in the Blues end early in the third period. For about 10 seconds there was a mass of white and blue players up against the boards and then out snuck Holloway with the puck somehow! Luke Heisz made a nice pass to Brame who fired up a great shot but the goalie’s glove was hot and he caught it in the air. The Blues got it down in our end and had a slapper off the post. Middegaal had lots of shoulder to shoulder action against the Blues and warded them off. He was making some nice shots from the point to try to get us up another goal. A Blues breakaway resulted in a tripping penalty and we got our first penalty of the game. Kiefer MacNeil had a quick left glove and throughout the game caught a number of pucks including one to deny a power play goal. The game ended 3-1 for the Warriors!
Game #2
Game 2 of the tournament saw the Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Rep team facing the Centre Wellington Fusion.
The Fusion started the game with some very skilled stick handling and scored less than a minute in. Lucas Jacklin was in net and had a fine performance. Within the first 5 minutes of play he already had racked up nearly 10 saves. Warriors got a slashing penalty and the Fusion power play began. Cole Meadows worked hard to keep icing the puck and they killed the penalty. Another Fusion goal came shortly after this to make the score 2-0. There were many full speed rushes by both teams that didn’t result in shots on net for the next few minutes of play. Avery Thurston made a great poke check against an oncoming Fusion player. Then down the ice she had a shot that hit someone and looked like it might just roll in by their goalie but no such luck. The period ended with Jacklin again making some great plays in net.
Early in the second period the Warriors got on the power play. The Warriors made a really impressive effort with amazing passing, a large number of shots and defense doing acrobatics to keep the puck in over that blue line. The score remained 2-0 but then the Warriors got another chance. Thomas Sheldon kept the puck in multiple times and was creating some scoring chances with shots from the point. Play became 4 on 4 for 10 seconds after a Warriors’ penalty was called. Jacklin made many more saves but near the end of the Fusion power play they finally got one in to make it 3-0. Kaden Brame and Owen Holloway were doing some nice passing to move the puck along. Danny Van Straaten continued his hard shots but their goalie was stopping everything. Another whistle blew and with 30 seconds left in the period the Warriors were back on the power play.
Starting the third period with 5-4 play the team was on full speed. Sam Jeffrey made a wicked shot but the goaltender deflected off his R elbow. Holloway thought maybe he could catch the goalie in the same place but again it was deflected. The next penalty called was on us and again the kids worked really hard. There was only 1 shot fired off in the first minute of the penalty! Hayden White-Roy was doing some very effective backchecking. Jared Gould also put an A+ effort into the penalty kill then made an amazing pass to Jeffrey who was just coming off the bench. The final score was 6-0 but the team worked very hard and held their own for most of the game against one of the top ranked A teams in Ontario.
Tournament Game #3
The second day of the the Power Play tournament matched up the Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Rep team against the Oakville Rangers. Stratford moved Colton Gibson over to forward and were down to four defensemen.
The game started with Jared Gould making a good scoring chance early on. The Rangers rebounded from that and got a breakaway to score a goal. Thomas Sheldon was doing a great job of getting the puck moving and out of the Warriors end. There were some amazing tape to tape passes going on between the forwards – a great chain of Danny Van Straaten to Jake Heinbuch to Jared Gould that ended in a shot on net by Gould. Keifer MacNeil in our end stopped a few hard slap shots from the Rangers to keep it a one goal game. Sheldon bravely blocked a shot that made us all wince in the stands. He was out for a short time trying to catch his breath from the hard chest shot so Gibson switched over to defense. Amazing that Gibson was able to play both forward and defense very well in the same game! With a minute left in the period, Cole Meadows had a fabulous pass up to Owen Holloway who almost got it in. Heinbuch tried to tip in a shot by Avery Thurston to no avail.
The impressive passing continued on early in the second. Gould sent a beauty over to Kaden Brame and then Van Straaten got it only to be tripped up near the net. The first power play of the game began. Gould went to make a pass that almost went in when it hit the goalie’s pad and took a funny turn. There was a scramble at the net but the whistle blew. Oakville managed to get some action down in our end on the power play but Thurston skated hard off the bench to break it up and MacNeil stopped the puck. Holloway got it down to the other end and made it look easy skating around 3 Oakville players so the lines could all change. Rangers were tight around our net and a flukey high puck bounced off MacNeil’s back and went in. The score was now 2-0. The passes kept coming from Gould to Van Straaten and Brame but the rushes kept getting broken up in the Rangers end. Gould passed over to Gibson who had an amazing shot and Heinbuch generated some more chances as well. Oakville managed to get another goal with a shot high off MacNeil’s glove and the rebound got stuck in. The Warriors got a penalty near the end of the period.
The third period started with a score of 3-0 and 3 seconds left in the Warriors penalty. Wes Duiker was having some great shots from the point but the Rangers continued with the shut out. Meadows made a great shot block and was working hard to get the Warriors on the board. The Rangers got a 2 on 1 and another goal to make it 4-0. Despite the deficit, the team was working hard to score. Gould had another swell shot and a parent in the stands was heard saying “can’t even buy one”. The sentiment was agreed upon by the fans as our boys all tournament had an impressive number of shots but the score wasn’t reflecting this. Duiker took a wind up and the shot was blocked by an Oakville player. He wound up another shot and put it home! A parent then yelled “top shelf, where Momma doesn’t dust”. Chuckles ensued in the stands. With 40 seconds left there was a play in our net with Brame doing some great backchecking and then a penalty was called on the Rangers.
Luckily Brame was not seriously injured. Sheldon skated it up on the power play nicely and the Warriors got a few last shots to end the game. The final score was 4-1.
Game #4
For the final game of the tournament the Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Rep were playing the host team, the Guelph Gryphons.
The game started with Hayden White-Roy doing some authoratative back checking. Unfortunately, the 4 game trend of an opposition goal in the first minute of play continued. The score was 1-0. Sam Jeffrey accidentally got his stick up under the ref’s mask on his way to a face off but the ref smiled and all was good. Playing on their home ice, the Gryphons put extra pressure on the Warriors in the first period. Lucas Jacklin in net had to make many saves right off the hop to keep them in the game. Colton Gibson was playing forward again and making good passes. He sent it up to White-Roy who had a great shot on net. Jeffrey then made a slapshot that went off the goalie’s left shoulder. Cole Meadows was hustling the puck down the ice and getting in some excellent forechecking. Jake Heinbuch made a diving defensive play into our net to stop a 3 on 1. Gibson was true to his defense roots and helped the team with backchecking and keeping the Gryphons out of our end.
The score was 1-0 and fans felt these teams were pretty evenly matched and that it was anyone’s game. Luke Heisz passed it up to Gibson who moved it down the ice. Most of this period was spent in the Gryphons end and it felt like Stratford was on a power play. Meadows made some nice shots and Thomas Sheldon was working hard to not let it past the blue line. Jeffrey was making great passes up to White-Roy and the shots kept coming. Meadows had a great shot and the rebound was just a few inches past Heinbuch’s reaching stick. The Gryphons finally got out of their end and raced it down to score another goal. The game saw many 3 way accurate passing lines and Heisz sent it to Gibson to White-Roy to create some chances back in Guelph’s end.
Down by 2 goals but working fiercely, the third period saw an early penalty called on Guelph. The boys wanted a goal so badly to get the game closer and were passing trying to get the perfect shot. They took some but this goalie was unbeatable and nothing sailed past him. We got back to 5 on 5 hockey and Meadows continued his strong effort with some more shots. Jacklin saw more action then in the second period and had to make glove saves, pad saves and kept it at a score of 2-0. With 3 minutes left another Warriors power play happened. Meadows led the way with some nice shots and passes but again this goalie stopped everything. Heisz took the puck down the long haul and made a shot just wide. Stratford called a time out with 1:34 left on the clock. Fans were holding their breath just hoping for that puck to go in. The Stratford goalie was pulled and the Warriors worked until the very last second but lost the game 2-0.
All of us are so proud of the tireless effort EVERY kid on this team did over the last two days. The win/losses on the board do not reflect at all the caliber of play the team showed : amazing passes, quick skating, hard shots and great sportsmanship throughout the entire tournament. Congratulations Warriors, you played HARD!