Hardwork Pays off for Midget Players
Submitted By
Mike Weber on Sunday, November 09, 2008
This past weekend, the Midget Reps experienced their first tournament action of the season as they took part in the 43rd Annual Strathroy Olympic "A-BB" Tournament. The teams hardwork and determination over the past couple of days paid off as they came out with the Bronze Medal.
The Midget reps started the tournament off on Friday morning playing their first game against the London Minor Hockey Association (LMHA) Thunder. Each team played hard throughout the opening minutes with hardwork down low on both sides of the ice. LMHA took the early lead with a backhand from the top of the circle that cleared over goaltender David Irwin's shoulder. LMHA lead after the opening period. Listowel came back in the second with a goal by Justin Jacklin that tied the game at one. Listowel found themselves into penalty trouble early in the third period that allowed LMHA to break open the 1-1 tie and regain the lead as they scored back to back goals on the powerplay. However, the Midgets seemed to never give up as they worked their own powerplay around and passed the puck out to the top of the circle to allow Corey Conners to drive a slapshot home. Making the game a 3-2 game with 9 minutes left in the third. Within the final minutes of the game both teams each changed numerous scoring chances. Just over a minutes left in the game Listowel called a 30 second time out to discuss game play. They pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker and put an extra guy in front. This move paid dividends as the puck game out to the top of the circle and Conners drove another slapper home to tie the game with 1 second left on the clock. This lead the teams to a 3 on 3 overtime, which was a new experience for most of the players because of the change in game play. Listowel stuck to their game of hardhitting and checking. Around the 3 minute mark of the period, Jamie Burns received a questionable kneeing penalty that gave LMHA the extra attacker. LMHA worked the puck into the Listowel end passing it around the Listowel defensive zone. An LMHA player made a quick pass out front and with a bad bounce off a defenders skate the puck was in the net. Listowel ended up recieving a point for the 4-3 overtime loss.
Listowel's second game was a rough game as they came up against the eventual winners North London Nationals. Listowel seemed to be tired from the previous game in the morning against LMHA as their hard skating kind of play just didn't seem to be shown throughout most of the game. However, Listowel and London never stopped keeping the game interesting as they exchanged numerous penalties that each team had to kill throughout most of the game. The only goal of the game was scored by North London as the game ended in a 1-0 score. From a positive side the game was highlighted by the numerous scoring chances that were stopped by goaltender Ian Robinson. Ian and the penalty killing crew turned away many scoring opportunities through most of the second and third periods.
The Midgets third game was played on Saturday morning against the hometown Strathroy Jr. Rockets. Listowel came to play on Saturday morning as they dominated the hometown team in every period. Listowel worked hard throughout most of the game although they had a short bench as numerous players became injured throughout the last few games. The short bench lasted for the remainder of the tournament. David Irwin earned the shutout win as Listowel ended the game with a 3-0 win.
The fourth round robin game of the tournament was played on Saturday afternoon as Listowel took on Dorchester. As many of the coaches had discussed before the game, we felt that it was going to be the toughest game of the tournament as Dorchester was a big hard hitting team. However, the Listowel squad seemed to outskate and hit the Dorchester team throughout the opening minutes of the game. Listowel opened the score at the 6 minute mark of the first period as Conners potted another goal from Jonathan Hunsberger and George McKeown. Dorchester tied the game with just under a minute left in the first to finish the period tied at one. George McKeown broke the tie with just under 3 minutes left to play in the second to give Listowel a commanding 2-1 lead going into the third period. After the intermission, Dorchester seemed to find their second win and put the Midgets in their place with two quick goals in just under two minutes giving them the 3-2 lead which was the final score.
This put Listowel in the fourth position in the standings and a chance at redemption on Sunday in the bronze medal game versus LMHA. From the drop of the first puck, you knew that this was going to be a chippy, hardhitting affair as the Midgets and LMHA had some unfinished business from the opening game of the tournament. The first period went by quite quickly as both teams exchanges numerous scoring opportunities but never really accomplished anything. The second period started with LMHA opening the game with a goal around the 8 minute mark of the period that seemed to wake the Midgets up as the got some jump in their stride which resulted in Listowel scoring around minutes later. The Midgets broke out of the zone and created a two-on-one break with Jamie Burns busting wide. He took the puck to the outside and then dished a nice pass across the crease to Eric Boisvert who tapped in the rebound. Listowel kept the hard work going and just over a minute later Jamie Burns lead the attack again taking the puck to the outside and putting it upstairs on the LMHA goalie. Listowel ended the game with a 2-1 win and the bronze medal.
This past tournament was a competitive hockey experience for the Midgets this past weekend as each team that the Midgets played were classified as BB or above. This will hopefully push the team to the next level and help them have future success throughout the rest of the season.
