Jan 23, 2012 | Chris Holloway | 459 views
Team Defense Key for Tournament Victory!!
The Hishons Custom Embroidery T1 Novices used brilliant team defense in only allowing 7 goals throughout the weekend and won 6 straight games to become Novice Champions at the prestigious Preston International Hockey Tournament.
Game one early Friday morning saw Tallyn Soper record the shutout in a lopsided 7-0 win over Hamilton. Caleb Musselman and Caelan Trupp were forces in their own end, while Luke deVries displayed his puck rushing abilities from his defensive position. Camden Daigle led the attack with a hat-trick and Brady Ballantyne potted a pair of goals. Luke Gaylor had a goal and 2 assists while Erik Smith had a goal and one assist.
Game 2 Friday afternoon saw the Warriors defeat a pesky Kitchener team 3-1. Kyle Powers was awesome in the 3rd as Kitchener pressed to close the 2 goal deficit. Maverick Mulder and Jack Whitehead kept Kitchener guessing with their pinches Owen Duiker used his size and speed to create turnovers all over the ice! Smith, Ballantyne and Daigle potted goals once again.
Early Saturday morning the Warriors jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and coasted to a 5-2 win over Waterloo. Caleb Kuno back-checked ferociously after a couple of questionable hits on him. Daigle with 4 and Zach Carman scored for the Warriors.
After qualifying as the number one seed out of 12 teams, the Warriors once again faced Waterloo who were the 8th seed, in a quarterfinal matchup. Kyle Powers returned from illness and recorded the shutout while Daigle once again notched the hat-trick. Patrick Holloway scored once and then set up Luke Gaylor for the last 2 Warrior goals.
Sunday morning in the semis the Warriors responded often and early, on their way to 7-4 win over Kitchener. Daigle and Ballantyne had a pair each and Holloway once again had a goal and 2 helpers. Carter Musselman scored the eventual game winner and then assisted on Braydon Tinning's goal to ice the victory.
The Warriors then faced league rival North London in the final and eventhough they were very exhausted after 6 games in 3 days they dug deep and pulled off the championship victory. Daigle scored early in the game off a beauty feed from Carman and that's all Kyle Powers needed as he recorded his 2nd consecutive shutout in the 1-0 victory. Caleb Musselman came up with a huge shot block as time expired to seal the fate of North London. A total team effort keyed the victory and parents/coaches are very proud of these boys.