Dec 17, 2014 | Stephanie McMullen | 1348 views
Exciting Atom House League Christmas Tournament
This past weekend, Atom house league fans were treated to an exciting series of games, featuring talented and determined hockey players. Well-matched teams faced each other, leads changed hands and until the final buzzer, the outcome was always in question!
The tournament started off with a bang, as Green and White faced off in the opener. This one was a nerve-wrecking affair, right to the end, when Brodie Aberdein scored the game tying-goal for Green with less than a minute left on the clock! Not to be outdone, the next match, between Blue and Orange was a close affair, ending with a 2-1 Blue win, thanks to some stellar goaltending from Jake Ostrom. Just in time for supper, White faced off against Orange. Two quick Orange goals put them in the lead, but White battled back to a 2-2 tie. The last game of the day featured Blue and Green. A number of Green penalties and some great shots and passing from Foster Tannahill and Ben Snow, led to a convincing 6-4 Blue victory.
After a night’s rest, action resumed Sunday morning for the final round-robin games. Green faced the quick and plucky Orange team, but had found their legs and rolled to a 5-1 win. The other match featured Blue and White. In a close and emotional game, White squeaked out a 5-4 victory, with Brighton McGregor scoring the decisive goal. At the end of the round robin, Blue and White both had 4 points, meaning they would enjoy a rematch in the afternoon’s championship game. With Green’s 3 points and Orange’s 1, they headed to the consolation game at 3.
The Green and Orange affair was a tight and exciting game, with the score sitting at 0-0 after the first period. In the second, a sweet pass from Ethan Kerr to Jack Diaz marked the Green game winner. Brodie Aberdein added two more for insurance, leading to a 3-0 win for Green and the Consolation title. The championship game was equally exciting. After an intense and exciting game, with quick passes, impressive stick handling and smart plays, White eventually came away with a 5-2 win and the Atom Christmas House League Tournament Championship!
Thanks to all the players, coaches and trainers who played hard, had fun and shared the excitement. Special thanks to tournament organizer Greg Nicol, who ensured that the weekend went smoothly and stayed on track. Finally, an extra special note of appreciation to all the parents who dedicated their weekend to driving kids to games and cheering proudly from the stands. These great memories for the kids happen because of you!
Team Highlights
Team White (aka The Blizzard)
After a wavering start to the season, the Blizzard seemed to find their stride heading into the tournament. They took to the ice like a furious storm of team spirit and camaraderie to battle through for a championship win. Coming in they knew full well they were in for a challenge. As the parity of the league gets tighter and tighter each week, they knew they would be missing a key member in Cole. The Blizzard continued to rely on the strong and steady defensive play of Lucas who never fails to be in the right place at the right time; and the swift skating of Dylan who continues to force the offence to the outside, blocking out continuous attempts at our goal. Not to be outdone was our puck-carrying rearguard Matthew who held the line, and didn't shy away from key puck rushes. This solid, consistent back-end made it easy for our Forward lines to play with confidence and commitment. The ever-energetic forward rush by Taleum kept the coaches and parents on the edge of their seats, especially his sweet dangle pass through the legs that resulted in a key marker in the final game. The passionate and relentless puck challenges by our forwards resulted in a very tight and difficult neutral zone. Jaiden continues to lead our younger crew, delivering goals at key moments in the games. A total team effort set this group up for the best possible chance, which was framed by a season first and game-winning goal by Brighton in the last round robin game securing our place in the finals. Fast and furious Seth never gave room for others to make a play, helping to give Lucas room to bring the puck to the net after shaking off an injury. Isaiah’s constant puck battles along the boards resulted in some timely stretch passes to awaiting line mates. Many key and timely blocks by Scotty brought this team a 5-2 win and the championship. This tournament highlighted the level of play and skill that these kids are developing and it is amazing to all who witnessed it. It was very apparent that there were no given outcomes. The Coaching Staff of the Blizzard are extremely proud of the way all of the kids matched the energy level and intensity that each of our opponents brought to the ice.
Team Blue (aka the Blue Jackets)
Great weekend with lots of highlights, including:
Game one ...Jacob Ostrom our goalie stood on his head.
Game two... Foster Tannahill’s 4 goal, 2 assist game …
Game three... We never gave up... We just had nothing left in the tank. Almost pulled it off anyway!
Finals... We were out muscled... All that can be said is team blue "the blue jackets " have grit...
Proud of each and every player.
Team Green (aka Mouldy Tatoes)
The weekend for team Green was a hard fought weekend and the team showed a lot of depth. The coaching staff are all proud of the team for their work on their positional play and overall team work that provided us with a consolation win. Ryan VanDrunen showed his veteran status by playing some excellent defence and Caleb Radbourne was our steady defence all weekend quietly doing his job and thwarting the attempts of the team to enter our zone. Ariawna Jackson showed off some strong stick checking skills holding the blue line at key times and a new addition to our defence Cole Brown flew up and the down the ice swiftly protecting the almost impenetrable wall between the pipes that Jamie Nicoll has continued to put up for team Green all year.
Up on forward we had Clara Cameron-Osborne playing her position extremely well occupying the other teams defence in front of the net while a very focused Austin Negus worked to keep the puck in the end so the fast-skating Brodie Aberdein could grab the puck, make some moves and snipe home some much needed goals. Rather than a first and second line, Team Green’s talent runs so deep that we actually have two top lines. The other top line featured an aggressive Jack Diaz skating with fire in his eyes. Ethan Kerr centred the line with Lucas Merner on the other wing. The performance of these two players makes it seems as though they are brothers, passing to each other as if they shared the same brain. Their teamwork led to several markers and left the other team puzzled as to how to defend against them. After a great weekend of hockey the dedicated players of Team Green left with a 2 – 1 – 1 record and should hold their heads high!
Team Orange (aka Orange Crush)
A terrific weekend for Orange, as the team continues to make steady progress on all aspects of the game! Highlights included some big saves all weekend long by Peyton Beechey and Hunter Staves, some strong defensive plays led by Jayden Todd and Connor McManaman and the tenacious skating, forechecking and back checking of TT Nicol and Quinton Rodgers. Especially exciting to watch were the constant improvement of Kristen Brown and Nick Fenton, as they got better with each game!