No silver lining
Local teams leave tournament empty handed
Posted By ANTHONY DIXON ADIXON@THEDAILYOBSERVER.CA
Posted 9 months ago
ANTHONY DIXON
adixon@thedailyobserver.ca
Local bantam teams are licking their wounds this morning after they all failed to win a Silver Stick championship.
The Pembroke Kings and the Muskrat Voyageurs showed the most promise, going 2-1 and 1-1-1 respectively in the round robin portion of the tournament. However, Pembroke fell in the B division quarter final 3-2 to the Mississippi Thunder Kings. The Muskrats made it to the C division semifinal, losing 1-0 to the Norwood Hornets, giving up the contest's lone goal with 36 seconds left in the third period.
In the B division final, Mississippi downed Nepean 5-2 while in the C division final, the Tweed Hawks pounded Norwood 6-0 to claim that championship.
In its quarter final game, Pembroke dug itself a hole late in the first period, giving up three goals to Mississippi while scoring only one themselves. That goal came off a shot by Ben Mitchell, assisted by Adam Gale and Wil Summers. At the 10:34 mark of the third, Pembroke made it a one goal game when Mitchell scored his second of the contest but that was all the team could muster. Gale got the assist on the goal.
The Muskrat defeat was truly a heart breaker.
With neither team able to score, one could feel the tension in the rink escalating with the decreasing time on the clock. With seconds winding down the importance of each shot and pass was magnified.
As often happens in hockey, a chance at one end of the ice led to a chance at the other. The Muskrat Voyageurs had a couple of opportunities to score in the waning minutes, only to watch Connor Cassidy of Norwood come back and wire a shot off the inside of the post with 36 seconds left in the game.
Other local teams, namely Petawawa, Valley Storm and Pontiac, failed to make it to the playoff round.
In Pembroke's second game of the round robin portion of the tournament, the Kings defeated the Smith Falls Bears 5-1. The Kings opened the scoring in the first on an unassisted goal Mitchell. In the second, Travis Chaput potted another goal while Justin Gribbon and Mitchell got assists. In the third it was Connor Shaw, Braydon Couturier, and Gale scoring for the Kings. Tallying assists were Shaw with two, Ryan Gagne, Couturier, Gale and Brendan Sheedy.
Pembroke lost its final game of the round robin, 2-1 to the Aylmer Voiliers. Scoring the lone goal was Summers, assisted by Chaput.
Muskrat tied Tweed 2-2 Saturday afternoon. The Voyageurs scored twice in the second period but couldn't hold the lead, giving up two goals in the third. Muskrat goals were scored by Branden Yakabuskie and Tyler Coulas. The assist on both goals went to Brett David.
In their final round robin game, the Voyageurs fell 4-2 to Norwood. Muskrat was leading 2-1 going into the third but gave up three goals in the final frame. Scoring for the Voyageurs was Yakabuskie and Jordan Borutski. Earning assists were Collin Wren with a pair, David and Tyler Bennett.
Coming off a loss on Friday, the Petawawa Patriots rebounded Saturday to tie the Gananoque Islanders 2-2. Duncan Chisholm and Brayden Neville scored for the Patriots. Assists went to Neville and Christian Carriere. In their final game of the weekend, the Patriots were blanked by West Carleton 2-0.
Likewise, Pontiac was shut out on Saturday, 3-0 by Frontenac. The team rebounded later in the day to double the NGS Braves 4-2. Jesse Russett scored a pair for the Pontiac Lions with Jeremy Donnelly and Simon-Richard Corriveau scoring the other markers. Christopher Hearty got four assists in the game. Also getting assists were Dillon Harrison, Adam Bretzlaff and Corriveau.
The Valley Storm fell 3-1 to Norwood on Saturday afternoon. Scoring for the Storm was Davine Parks, assisted by Jarrett Zilney. In their final game of the tournament, the Storm scored three goals, however Lakefield scored five. Scoring for the Storm was Hayden McIntyre, Russell Summers and Brandon Prince. Assists went to Mike Papania, Prince, and Carter Henry.
Silver Stick action returns to Pembroke next weekend at the midget level.
Anthony Dixon is a Daily Observer reporter
