The Saugeen Maitland Midget AA Lightning
competed in the annual Mississauga Christmas Classic tournament over the weekend
between Christmas and New Years and came home with the silver medal.
The Lightning first game of the round robin was a 2-0 shut-out over the home town Mississauga Chiefs. Dawn Pletsch opened the scoring with assists awarded to Maddie Duncan and Jordyn Sholdice. Tori Terpstra scored the insurance marker with helpers from Neve VanPelt and Ciara Lark. Morgan Baker stopped all Mississauga shots for the shut-out. The Bolts second game on Friday evening was a 1-1 draw with the Brantford Ice Cats. Sarah Biesenthal scored the lone Lightning goal with an assist from Duncan.
Saturday morning saw the Lightning face the Haldimand Rivercats. The Bolts found their scoring touch again with a 4-1 win. Cassidy Colhoun had two goals for the Lightning while Kelsey Dixon and Lexi Smith scored singles. Assists were earned by Mel Nolan, Avery Reeves, Nikki Zabel, Ashlee Lawrence and Dixon. The two wins and a tie in the round robin put the Lightning into the quarter-finals on Saturday evening against the North Halton Twisters. The Lightning carried the play for most of the game, shutting out the Twisters 3-0. Rebecca Ropp was solid in net to earn the donut. Goals were scored by Terpstra, Colhoun and Lawrence with helpers from Kailyn Soers, Nolan, Duncan and Sholdice.
The quarter-final win vaulted the Bolts into the semi-finals against the Burlington Barricudas. The Lightning came to play, shutting out Burlington 3-0. Reeves, Terpstra and VanPelt scored the Lightning goals with assists from Jamie Simpson, Smith, Reeves and Terpstra. Baker earned the shut-out in net. In the Gold Medal final, the Bolts faced the North York Storm. Despite being held to only a handful of shots on net, the Storm tipped in a point shot on a second period power play to go up 1-0. The Lightning pressed for the remainder of the game, but were unable to finish on their chances. With the Lightning goaltender pulled late in the game, the Storm scored an empty-netter to ice the game, win the gold and send the Lightning home with silver. The Lightning look forward to the remainder of their regular season, ending in January. For Lightning schedule and results, go to www.saugeenmaitlandlightning.com.