The Insurance Central Minor PeeWee MD Warriors had a
tremendous showing at this past weekend’s SSE Wild Tournament, gong undefeated
in the round-robin and losing in the semi-finals to the eventual tournament
winners.
Starting the tournament early Friday morning against league rivals the London Bandits, the Warriors played a solid game, coming away with a 5-3 win. In front of strong goaltending from Jacob Ford, the Warriors were never behind in the game. After a scoreless 1st period, Connor Franke (Noah Patton, Simon Northmore) opened the scoring early in the 2nd. Good back and forth play saw the period end with a 2-1 Warrior’s lead, with Chase Windsor (Joel Niezen, Anthony Gioia) picking up the go-ahead goal. Three 3rd period goals by the Warriors – Northmore (Liam Westman, Franke), Niezen (Windsor, Gioia) and Nathan Ferguson (Cole McKay, Peter Williams) secured the victory. Jacob Ford was chosen as the team’s MVP.
The team’s 2nd game was against Erindale 62, a team that had defeated the Warriors earlier in the year in a tournament in Cambridge. Not wanting Erindale to again influence their tournament success, the team came out strong, taking a 2-0 first period lead off an unassisted goal by Franke and a marker by Gioia (Owen Brooks). The Warriors continued their strong play into the 2nd, with Williams (Ferguson) giving the team a 3-0 lead going into the 3rd period. A bit of a lapse in the 3rd period saw goaltender Jeremy Wickenheiser called upon to make some great saves to preserve the win, and the shut-out! Wickenheiser, off a strong effort in the win, picked up the game MVP.
In unfamiliar territory, the team entered the 2nd day of the tournament undefeated, ready to play the previously unknown Oakville Raiders. The team quickly realized that they were playing the most physical team they had played all year. The teams ended the 1st period in a scoreless tie, with the Raiders carrying most of the 1st period play, largely off their physical presence that prevented the Warriors from using their speed. Williams (McKay, Ferguson) scored the game’s first goal however the Raider’s tied the game with under a minute left in the 2nd. Prior to the start of the 3rd, Coach Todd Ferguson reminded the players of the importance of playing our game – fast, aggressive play – and not playing to their game. The speech seemed to work, as Oakville was hard-pressed to get the puck out of their end in the 3rd period. Two goals by Franke (Westman, Northmore), (Northmore, Sean Dolan) sealed the win for the Warriors. His 2-goal effort led to Franke being named the team’s MVP.
Sporting a 3 and 0 round-robin record, the Warrior’s entered the tournament semi-finals as one of 3 undefeated teams, finished in 3rd place and drew the Hamilton Tigers as their opponent. The team had faced the Tigers in the final of the Wayne Gretzky Tournament a couple of year’s ago so knew they were in tough. Playing a very strong defensive game, the Warriors saw themselves on the power-play late in the game down 2-0. With a chance to make the game interesting, the team pulled goaltender Jeremy Wickenheiser. Unfortunately, an empty net goal, followed by another marker, saw the team end the game down 4-0. Steven Tuer was chosen the team’s MVP after a tremendous game on defense.
Notwithstanding the 4-0 semi-final loss, the team took a lot of positives away from the tournament and is ready to face the last regular season games as they prepare for play-offs.