The Atom Rep Cyclones travelled to Peterborough last weekend for the 51st annual Liftlock Atom Tournament. This tournament is always the highlight of the Atom Rep season and you could feel the excitement from the players and parents as they all enjoyed their leisurely trip on the Cherrey Bus early Friday morning.
There were twelve teams in the Cyclones division, split into four groups of three for a round robin format with the top two teams moving on to the semi-final rounds. In the first game on Friday afternoon, our boys were up against the Montreal Lakeshore Panthers. The Panthers were a very fast and very strong team who eventually ended up as the 'A' champions in this division. With Jacob Nethercott between the pipes, the defensive pairings of Parker Yungblut and Reese Reading and Ben Rothwell and Curtis Jackson managed to help hold the score down to 1 - 0 going into the third. Our boys couldn't maintain the strong defensive play any longer and the Panthers dug in their claws and turned their game up a notch and started to find the back of the net. The final score ended-up 9 - 0.
In game two on Saturday morning, the opponents were the Huntsville Otters. The Cycs found themselves down by one midway through the first, but managed to battle back to tie it up four minutes into the second on a goal from Bryce Fletcher with an assist from Josh Gottfried. The Otters answered back less than a minute later to take the lead again. The majority of the third was played in the Otter’s end and Wade McPhee was rewarded with an unassisted goal on a breakaway. However, the game ended in a 3 - 2 loss for the Cycs as the Otters went ahead with just 34 seconds left in the game.
Game three would be a battle for a spot in the Consolation semi-finals on Sunday morning between the Cycs and the Arnprior Packers. The boys were determined to not be loading the bus for home on Sunday morning and they came out flying. Late in the first, Fletcher capitalized on some nice passing from Gottfried and Curtis Jackson to give the Cycs the lead. The Packers tied it up a minute later, but that was all the scoring they would get. The Cycs turned up the heat in the second and Bailey Matheson found the mesh twice within 40 seconds, assists went to Carter Collinson and Lane Buchanan on the first and Reece Reading and Jackson on the second. The line of Zach Robinson, Reese Johnson and Ben Bowman provided constant forechecking and pressure in the Packers end. In the third period, the refs found their whistles and gave Listowel four penalties and also rewarded the Packers with a penalty shot. Nethercott stood tall and denied the shooter. 3 - 1 was the final tally which insured our boys a spot in the semi-final game!
On Saturday night, the boys needed a break from their parents so they decided to go to the Peterborough Pete’s game while the parents enjoyed a nice, quiet supper at Jake`s Grill. It was early to bed Saturday in preparation for an 8:30 a.m. semi-final game.
Although the boys were tired, they appeared ready to face-off against the Loyalist Jets. Knowing that winning this game would put them into the finals really seemed to encourage the troops to score a bunch of goals, and score they did! The boys moved the puck well throughout the whole game and showed some great teamwork and they came away with an 11 - 2 victory. Braeden Ellis was solid in net and only allowed two goals, both on power plays. Almost every player on the team joined in on the scoring as follows: goals scorers were Matheson (4), Gottfried (3), Collinson, McPhee, Johnson, and Buchanan, with assists going to Collinson (2), Yungblut (2), Fletcher (2), Buchanan, Bowman, Rothwell and Jackson. The coaches hoped that the boys saved some scoring for the finals!
We faced the Peterborough Nationals Minor AA team in the finals. Although the hometown fans outnumbered the Listowel fans, we were definitely making alot more NOISE!!!!! The fans were rewarded early on in the game when Collinson took a pass from Matheson and Buchanan and beat the goalie on the high glove side to give us the lead just two minutes into the game. The action was fast paced and the game was back and forth with both goalies making some huge saves. Nethercott managed to keep the puck out of the net until there was just five minutes left in the third. Once again, the Cycs found themselves with some penalty problems in the third, going to the sin bin three times. The penalty kill was working and we managed to kill off a one minute long five on three. The third period ended in a tie, sending us to sudden victory overtime. The Cycs had a couple of scoring chances early in the OT, but once again ended up in the penalty box. The Nationals took advantage of the power play and ended the game just one minute into OT. Jacob Nethercott was awarded player of the game.
A great time was had by all and we got to see our boys play some awesome hockey! The team would like to give special thanks to the coaching staff members of Scott McDonald, Bill Berfelz and Fraser Collinson for taking time out of their busy schedules and for sharing their wisdom, guidance and hockey knowledge. The boys would also like to thank the trainer, Allan Rothwell, for guiding them through the pre-game stretches and warm-up, for keeping them hydrated on the bench and for tending to their injuries both on and off the ice.