The
Saugeen Maitland Midget AA Lightning travelled to Detroit this past weekend to participate in
the 2 Nations College Prep Series hockey tournament and finished the weekend
undefeated. Due to the tournament
format, the Lightning failed to make it to the gold medal game based on goal
differential. Over the course of the
weekend, the Bolts did manage to defeat 3 of the top 6 ranked Midget aged US girls teams and tied the 4th ranked
team in Canada
on Sunday in a consolation game. 26 of
the top-ranked Ontario
and US teams participated in the Midget division of the tournament.
Friday morning the Bolts opened the tournament with a 2-0 win over #3 US ranked Detroit Honeybaked. Avery Reeves opened the scoring with helpers going to Erin Near and Hannah Herman. Katie Heath added an insurance marker in the second period with assists from Madison Davey and Cassidy Mason. The Lightning then shut down Detroit’s offence and goaltender Rebecca Ropp stopped all 26 shots directed her way for the shut-out. The Lightning then faced the Anaheim Lady Ducks and defeated them 5-1. Scoring for the Bolts were Kelsey Dixon, Natalie Nixon, Jocelyn Ballantyne, Reeves and Davey. Assists were awarded to Taylor MacDonald, Neve VanPelt, Mel Nolan, Brooke Schroeder, Herman and Near. Kaitlin Chagnon stopped all but one of the Lady Duck shots in net.
On Saturday the Lightning saw perhaps their toughest competition of the year when they faced off against the speedy and high-powered Chicago Young Americans and Shattuck St. Mary’s, a prestigious prep school in Minnesota, USA. The Bolts opened the scoring in the second period against Chicago when Lexi Smith deflected in a Mason shot from the slot after Maddie Duncan pinched in from the point to get the puck to Mason. The Young Americans tied it up shortly after, but then Heath then potted the go-ahead marker with Davey providing a screen in front of the net. Herman also gained an assist. Chicago pressured, but the Bolts played great team defence and goaltender Ropp stood on her head to deny the Young Americans any more goals. Smith iced the game late with an open net goal with an assist from Mason. Shattuck St. Mary’s opened the scoring in the first period against the Lightning on Saturday evening, but the Bolts never gave up. VanPelt stole the puck from a Shattuck defender and scored an unassisted goal early in the second period to tie the game. There were no more goals for either side in regulation as both the Shattuck goalie and Chagnon for the Bolts were solid in net. The game went to O/T and with the Bolts short-handed, Schroeder fed a pass up center to a streaking Smith who scored top-shelf with less than a second on the clock for the 2-1 victory.
With three of the 26 teams at 4 wins and 0 losses after the round robin, the tie-breaker for the gold/silver game came down to a goal differential calculation and the Lightning lost out by one goal against. That left the Lightning playing a consolation game on Sunday against the Sudbury Lady Wolves, currently ranked #4 for all Midget aged girls’ teams in Canada. The game was a rough, end-to-end battle with a scoreless first and second period. Sudbury scored early in the third, but the Bolts soon countered with Mason potting one from Ballantyne. It remained tied at ones to the end of regulation and O/T as both Ropp for the Bolts and the Sudbury tender shut the door. A great weekend of hockey girls.
In other news, the Midget AA Lightning will be playing Team China Women’s National team in an exhibition game on November 26 at 7pm in Wingham. Come out and support our local girls and witness the skill level of women’s hockey first hand. Ticket information and game schedule for the Midget AA Lightning can be found at saugeenmaitlandlightning.com.