Dec 07, 2013 | moores | 1127 views
Pretty Close, but So Far
The Leeder & Associates Major Atoms traveled to Leamington the weekend of Nov 22-24. The competition was stiff in a close tournament all around
The first game of the tournament was a close fought battle against Strathroy with the some the boys spending more time in the box then on the ice. Not to be undone, they came away with a tie with Caleb Morrison notching the lone goal.
The second game came Sat morning against the Guelph Gryphons Select squad. Some of the best skating the boys have faced this season from a "select" team put us on our heels at times and dispite a solid defensive effort one miscue cost us and we could not find the back of the net. Guelph 1-0
Saturday afternoon brought a spirited Petrolia squad who decided to mix it up with the boys. Goals started to come in the second with Aidan yarde netting two on nice wrist shots from the high slot and Caleb Morrison blasting a slapper off the inside of the post. Petrolia answered back with two goals late and almost tied on a penalty shot that no one could explain.
Things got heated as the Petrolia coach discussed a call with the ref and consequently left the building. The boys showed some real maturity and stayed on track...Final score 3-2 Major Atoms.
After our loss to Guelph we needed some help from a late Sat game to move on. That help came from our friends in Petrolia when they beat Essex by 2 goals moving us trough to Sunday....It was an agonizing wait til 7pm Sat night for the coaching staff...the boys unwound on the water slide.
Sun morning brought us to the Semi Final against the home team South Point. The boys played their best game of the tournament but sometimes you need a little luck on your side to make it through. A fairly even contest in the first saw the south point team out skating our boys and testing our D. Fast forward to the PK and South Point capitalized, with a little luck. A high puck bounced off Carters shoulder and over and in, a tough one to swallow. The second goal came on a centering pass which bounced off a skate. The boys got down, but Aidan Yarde had the pick me up they needed when his highlight reel goal complete with a couple of fakes, a toe drag and a sweet deke that got us to 1 down.
The team dominated the 3rd keeping SP pinned in their end but the Southpoint goalie kept steady and unfortunately even with pucks ringing off the crossbar we couldn't find the net.
All in all a good close tournament with all games in our age group decided by 2 goals or less. 6 goals allowed, 5 goals for. Carter Garvie again solid between the pipes.