An overall great effort last weekend was overshadowed by a fluky overtime goal that eliminated the Midget AE Cyclones from the Regional Silver Stick.
The weekend tourney started early for the Cycs as they faced a spirited St. Marys team in the tournament’s opening game on Thursday night. The home town boys seemed a little tense as they came out skating hard but scrambling all over the ice. Despite what looked like confusion the Cycs would score first as Justin Jacklin’s long shot would elude the St Marys tender (assist Young). The AE’s would add a 2nd goal late in the first however this time it was in their own net as a corner shot was inadvertently tipped in by a Cyc’s defender. The game remained tied until late in the 3rd when with 46 seconds left, Eric Boisvert potted what looked like the winner. St Marys didn’t give up and with their goalie pulled, a defensive face-off lapse would allow them to tie the game with 18 seconds remaining. Final finished 2-2 and each team earned 4-1/2 points (2 pts awarded for each period and 3 pts awarded for winning the game)
Game 2 was Friday afternoon, so much to the disappointment of the players some schooling had to be missed. This game vs Petrolia saw a much better effort as not only did we continue to skate hard we started playing better positionally. However it would be Petrolia who scored 1st as a bouncing puck would give them a 2 on 1 and they made no mistake rifling a shot to the top of the net giving them the 1-0 led. The Cycs continued to pressure and Brody Tucker’s hard work paid off as he stuffed home a goal mouth scramble (assist Daviau). Petrolia would again answer late in the 2nd restoring their 1 goal led. The 3rd was a feisty affair with each team taking several penalties but it would be Jacklin that would tie the game (assist E. Boisvert). Then a determined Michael Lockie would score the winner mid way through the 3rd as he put home his own rebound (assists Jacklin, Hollinger). The win gave the Cycs 6 more points and eventually 1st place in their pool.
Game 3 on Saturday night was a quarter final game vs the BCH Ice Dogs. The hometown Cycs came out strong taking the play to the Ice Dogs and their effort paid off on the score sheet as Boisvert tucked home an errant point shot (assist Young, Quipp). BCH would be given life as they capitalized on two 2nd period power-plays thus taking a 2-1 led into the 3rd period. Undaunted the Listowel AE’s would answer with a power-play goal of their own as Jackson Martin roofed a shot past the BCH goalie (assists Young, Nelson). It would take overtime to determine this winner. The Cycs would be the aggressor in the extra frame forcing the play however unable to score on several chances. Uncharacteristically the ref did not let them play, as he handed out several infractions to both teams in the overtime period. Then with 2 minutes remaining before shoot-out the unthinkable happened, a high dump in by BCH handcuffed Listowel’s goalie and trickled to the back of the net, giving BCH the win and eliminating the Cycs.
Despite the tough lose there are many positives that should be taken from this weekend. The Midget AE’s have learned again that if they come to compete every game and stay out of the sin-bin they can play with any team that we have seen to date. Next action for the AE’s is Tuesday night in Listowel @ 9:15 when the Goderich Sailors come to town.