The Saugeen Maitland Midget AA Lightning travelled to Pittsburgh over the past
weekend to participate American Thanksgiving Classic. Combined with a little Black Friday Christmas
shopping, the Lightning managed to play some great hockey and came away with
the silver medal.
The Bolts first game was against the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite with the Lightning coming away with a 2-0 shutout over the home town Penguins. Tori Terpstra opened the scoring with assists awarded to Neve VanPelt and Lexi Smith. Cassidy Colhoun then scored with helpers from Sarah Biesenthal and Mel Nolan. Morgan Baker stopped all Pittsburgh attempts on net for the shutout.
The Lightning took on the Milwaukee Jr. Admirals in their second game of the round robin with Rebecca Ropp earning the 1-0 shutout. The Bolts badly outshot the Admirals, but Ashlee Lawrence managed the only goal on a tipped shot from the stick of defenceman Jamie Simpson. Kelsey Dixon added the second assist. The Lightning found their scoring touch in their 3rd game, downing the New Jersey Colonials 7-0. Simpson, Colhoun and Terpstra each had 2 goals while Nolan added a single. Assists were earned by Nikki Zabel (3), Nolan (3), Lawrence (4), Avery Reeves and Dawn Pletsch. Baker earned her second shut-out of the tournament.
The three wins put the Lightning in first place after the round robin and earned them a spot in the semi-finals. The Bolts faced the Milwaukee Admirals for the second time in the tournament, again only managing a single goal on the hot Admiral goaltender. However, Lightning tender Ropp was equally good, shutting out the Admirals for the second time. Ashlee Lawrence scored the only goal of the game, potting one on a break-away on a feed from Simpson.
The tournament final pitted the Bolts against the Mississauga Chiefs, also undefeated to this point in the weekend. The Lightning badly out-shot the Chiefs, but ran into another hot goaltender and could not put one into the Chiefs net. The defence core of Kailyn Soers, Ciara Lark, Jordyn Sholdice, Maddie Duncan, Simpson and Zabel were solid all weekend, instrumental in keeping the puck out of the Lightning net and defensive zone. The game remained scoreless through regulation and five minutes of 4 on 4 overtime. The only goal of the game was scored by the Chiefs in the shoot-out giving them the tournament championship. Next weekend the Lightning play a double-header at home against Windsor on Saturday and play in London on Sunday. Follow the Lightning at www.saugeenmaitlandlightning.com.