Dec 07, 2008 | Mike Weber | 813 views
Midgets Lose Hard Fought Battle in Tournament Finals
The Listowel Midget Cyclones travelled to Bracebridge this past weekend to play in the Bracebridge Minor Hockey Association Annual Midget Tournament.
The weekend started off great as the Listowel team travelled down the snowy roads to the Bayville arena on Friday night for its first action of the tournament against Oshawa Minor Generals. The Listowel team came out throwing some huge body checks and setting the tone of the game in the opening minutes. The Oshawa team showed our Listowel squad that they could not play the "rough and tough" style of hockey that Listowel is accustomed to playing. The first period had a bit of controversy as Listowel player Mark Verkley laid a solid "shoulder to chest" body check that twisted the player into the boards head first. Verkley was assessed a five minute major for checking from behind and got the toss for the next three games of the tournament. However, much to Oshawa's dismay Listowel kept the pressure on them and created numerous scoring opportunities on the penalty kill. Listowel killed the penalty off, regained control of the game and never looked back as they scored 3 unanswered goals in the second period to give themselves a strong lead. The game ended in a 4-1 score. Goals were scored by Eric Boisvert, Steven Kerr, Josh McPhee, and Jamie Burns. David Irwin was strong in Listowel's net.
The second game was played on the blistery Saturday morning again at the Baysville arena. Listowel was matched up against the Mooretown storm. Mooretown had come into the game with only one loss on the season and looked as though they were going to be the team to beat in the tournament. The Listowel squad brought their "A" game to this game as they played tremendously good hockey throughout most of the game. Mooretown and Listowel exchanged numerous scoring opportunities throughout the game however a goaltender battle ensued from both ends of the rink as Ian Robinson as well as Mooretown's Reid Rankin displayed a show for the ages. The game headed into overtime with a 0-0 score.The overtime setup for the tournament was 3 on 3 with goalies. As both teams exchanged hard hits in the overtime the ice opened up for Eric Boisvert to cut in from centre ice on a breakaway and try to put the puck upstairs on the Mooretown goalie. However, he missed just over the shoulder of Rankin and threw the puck out of play. The next faceoff, Mooretown won the draw and started taking the puck up the ice. Following the play, a Mooretown player was "sticking" Listowel's Burns who retaliated with a slash of his own that was noticed by the referee with just over a minute left. This gave Mooretown a 4 on 3 advantage which they capitalized on a Listowel defensive breakdown with 15 seconds left in the overtime to win the game 1-0. Great action and play by both teams.
Listowel's third game of the tournament was Saturday afternoon against Highland Storm. Listowel came to play in this game as the opening period Listowel was all over Highland and never let them get the puck out of their end. Listowel opened the scoring at the 4 minute mark of the first period with a goal by as Blake Thompson went hard to the net following up the play which was created by a drive from Josh McPhee. Twenty seconds later, Philip Boertien lead the team with another goal to get the Listowel squad a 2 goal lead. Justin Jacklin followed suit just over a minute later to give Listowel a three goal lead which was enough to subdue the Highland team and give Listowel a spot in Sunday's semi-finals. Thompson and Jamie Burns finished the scoring to give Listowel 5-1 win.
On Sunday morning Listowel was matched up against the hometown Bracebridge Bears. The first minutes of the game was not good hockey. Listowel looked as though they were in a dream world and Bracebridge took it to us. Luckily Listowel escaped the first period with a 0-0 score. The second period Listowel seemed to get some new life as they created numerous scoring opportunities on the Bears netminder. With just over 3 minutes left in the second, Bracebridge opened the scoring with a nice goal over the shoulder of Listowel's Robinson. However, much to the dismay of the Bracebridge team Listowel answered back within 20 seconds as Listowel's Ben Norman got the puck at the bottom of the circle and threw it over the Bracebridge goalies shoulder to tie the game at one. The first ended in a 1-1 tie. The third period was a back and forth battle as both teams played a hard hitting style of hockey which opened up the ice for numerous scoring opportunities. Listowel took the early lead in the third as Brett Buchanan scored from in front of the net to make the score 2-1. However, a couple defensive lapses by the Listowel team gave the Bears the opportunity to tie the game and they did at the 7 minute mark in the third. Just over two minutes after that, Bracebridge scored again to give them the 3-2 lead. After that Listowel was in desparation mode as they needed a goal to have a chance to stay in the tournament. At the three minute mark, Thompson carried the puck over the blueline and dumped the puck on net with a blistering slapshot that fooled the Bracebridge tender who was not ready. The puck squeezed by him to tie the game at 3-3. Listowel kept the intensity up over the final three minutes as they had just regained a new life. With just over a minute left in the game Listowel's Corey Conners came in on a three-on-two and put the final goal home to give Listowel a birth in the Midget Final.
In the final game of the tournament, Listowel was matched again against the solid Mooretown Storm. Listowel was all over Mooretown in the opening minutes; however, the unreal goaltender efforts of Mooretown's Rankin were too much as Listowel couldn't answer him. Mooretown opened the scoring in the first period and second periods with goals on the powerplay. Listowel seemed to regain some momentum in the early moments of the third as Josh McPhee scored by going hard to the Mooretown net. However, Mooretown answered right back with another goal of their own on the powerplay. Mooretown showed Listowel's that undisciplined hockey is the difference between winning and losing as penalties seemed to be the overall difference in this game. The game ended in a 5-2 score. On a positive note, Mooretown's coach was quoted as saying "You guys are the toughest hockey team we faced all year, we play against "AA - A" teams and we got a real eye opener from your team. It was a great learning experience for our guys". This was a great thing to hear from another coach, it showed that with a little more hardwork our team could be the team to beat come playoff time.
As for the tournament as a whole, the team played some of the best hockey they have played all year. This team is becoming a team to watch as they are a team that can really destroy the competition. Fans come on out and support. Go Cyclones Go.