Dec 02, 2012 | Vmighton | 674 views
PeeWee's Win Silver in Barrie Sharkfest!!!
The Saugeen Maitland PeeWee AA's travelled to Barrie to participate in the Barrie Sharkfest tournament on Nov 16-18, and came home with SILVER!
The first game on Friday, Nov 16, saw them meet a much improved North York Storm team, and come away with a 7 - 0 win. The scoring started slowly with Jennelle Smeltzer getting things going on a pass from Jamey Cunningham and Kelsey Mighton with just over 3 minutes left in the first. The teams remained close in the second with Smeltzer getting her second of the game, unassisted with less than a minute left to close out the second period. In the third, the Lightning came out striking hard and never looked back as Megan Wilton started things off just a minute into the period. Assists going to Cunningham and Kara Colhoun. Two minutes later, Kelsey Mighton would get her first of the game, taking the pass from Leah Herrfort. Alyssa Andrews would continue to build the lead, unassisted, at the 8 minute mark. Mighton would get her second of the game less than a minute later, Emma Swift picking up the assist on that. Colhoun would finish off the scoring with 3:21 remaining, with assists going to Mighton and Cunningham.
In the second game of round robin there was Lightning flashing everywhere as the Saugeen Maitland Lightning took on the Durham West Lightning. Strong play in both ends as the teams went back and forth, but the Durham West Lightning finally hit the mark at the mid way point of the second period, going ahead 1-0. Less than 15 seconds later, they found the back of the net again, and finished the period off with a 2-0 lead on our PeeWee's. The action continued in the 3rd, and strong play from Saugeen Maitland led to many chances, but it was the Durham West team that scored the only goal of the period, taking the game 3-0.
Game 3 saw the girls take on the hometown favourites, the Barrie Sharks. It was a very tight match, with Saugeen goalie Julia Beaven making some stellar saves to keep things in check. Barrie finally managed to get one past her with just over 3 minutes left in the first to take a 1-0 lead. In the second, the action remained tight in both ends, and we saw some great hockey, edge of the seat action, but no scoring on either end. The 3rd would see our girls tie it up early, with Madison Beishuizen taking a pass from Alyssa Andrews to tie things at 1. The action would continue until late in the 3rd when Barrie would once again take the lead, and add another in the empty net to finish with a 3 -1 win for Barrie.
With a small AA group, our record was enough to put us in semi-final play, where we were once again matched up against Lower Lakes rivals, the Barrie Sharks. The girls came out with something to prove, and wanted it bad. The 2 teams were very evenly matched, with both goalies making some saves that Roberto Luongo would be envious of. The Lightning managed to strike first, taking a 1-0 lead as Jennelle Smeltzer worked her magic with the puck at the 7:44 mark of the first period. Emma Swift picked up the assist. The first would end with a 1-0 lead for SML. Barrie would come back hard in the second, getting the tying goal at 9:57, and would take the lead with 7 1/2 minutes left in the period, but with just 15 seconds left, the Lightning would tie things up again, on shot from Megan Wilton, unassisted. The tension continued in the 3rd for this elimination game, with end to end action, chances at both ends, and SML netminder Julia Beaven stopping many quality "Shark shots". But it was the Lightning who found the back of the net with 12:22 left in the game. Hana Solinger on a fabulous breakaway chance, hit the mesh to give the Lightning the win, and a chance to move to the finals for the second year in a row!
The championship game would be a re-match for the 2 Lightning teams, with Durham West having the bye to the finals, playing their first game of the day. Our Saugeen Maitland girls gave it their all, but the tank was empty, and Durham West took the championship in a 5-0 match, leaving us with a SILVER medal and some very special memories! A great tournament by all the SML girls, and some very good hockey was enjoyed by all. Way to go girls!!!