The Holloway Automotive Minor Atoms clinched a berth in the AA-Constellation Division for the remainder of the year with 2 home victories over the past 3 days. On Thursday evening the boys defeated Waterloo 4-1 and on Saturday afternoon they skated away with a 3-2 victory over the Woodstock Navy Vets.
Thursdays game began a little slowly but the Warriors finally broke through with a goal after Maddyx Chaput raced down the ice for a loose puck and caused the goalie to bobble it just long enough for Mark Martin to deposit the puck in the wide-open goal. Next it was Deboeck on the PP from Hish and Brenzil after all 5 players worked the puck around the Wolves zone. Waterloo would get a PP goal of their own back but that was it as Walters slammed the door the rest of the game. In the 3rd period, two nice passing plays resulted in the final 2 Warrior tallies. First it was Cassone to Hish and then Rylan back to Cassone. Taten Mikel worked hard in his first game back on D and Flanny provided a steadying presence along the wall chipping pucks in & out.
Saturday at home the boys needed only a tie to clinch a spot in AA but that wasn't good enough for them as they used a last minute goal to seal a thrilling 3-2 victory. DeBoeck scored the first 2 goals with assists to Davis and Bridgey as the home side went up 2-0. However the Navy Vets chipped away and eventually tied the game with a PP goal early in the 3rd. After a tense 10 minutes where Bowlsey made several game saving stops, Hish scored the GW with only 21 seconds remaining. Assists to Pars & Holloway. White-Roy and Bauld worked hard defensively hounding pucks and using their bodies along the wall while Huddy Chaput had several shots as an emergency call-up.
The Warriors used great goaltending and very strong defensive play over a timely hot streak, going 5-0-2 in their final 7 games to finish 4th in the Seeded portion of the schedule, clinching their ticket to AA. They allowed only 7 goals over those 7 games and tied for a league low 24 goals against in their 13 Seeded league games. A great job by all players in their commitment to teamwork and defence first attitude.