Mar 16, 2011 | TMatheson | 1243 views
Cyclones Are Young Canada Week Champions
Not only does March Break bring holidays for the kids, it also brings with it the annual Goderich Lions Young Canada Week Peewee hockey tournament. Coach Jacklin had instilled a goal in the minds of the boys that they were to be the champions this year, and the boys caught the belief!
Game one on Saturday was against North London. The action was fast-paced and back and forth, but at the first buzzer, the scoreboard still showed a pair of zeroes. The Cycs would strike early in the second on an unassisted marker from Cole McKee. They struck again early in the third, from Josh Gottfried, assists to Wade McPhee and Parker Yungblut. The Cycs would stretch the lead to three late in the game when Reese Johnson would break in on his own and beat the London tender. Final score, 3 – 0. Braeden Ellis would earn the shutout.
On Sunday morning, the boys would come up against Wallaceburg. Wallaceburg would score one early in the first period, but that would be the only one to get past Cycs tender, Jacob Nethercott. The boys battled back to tie it up early in the second on a point shot from Zach Robinson, assisted by Bryce Fletcher. The Cycs opened the flood gates in the third and would score three unanswered goals to finish the game with a 4 – 1 win. Goal scorers were Flecther, Cole McKee and Derek Fischer . Assists went to Gottfried, Bailey Matheson and Parker Yungblut.
The Walkerton Capitals would be the final opponents in the round robin portion of the tournament. The Cycs came out flying, determined to finish first overall in the round robin. The majority of the game was played in the Capital's end. Johnson would open the scoring late in the first, assisted by Fletcher. The Walkerton goalie made numerous saves in the second to keep the boys off the scoreboard, but the Cycs managed to find the back of the net two more times in the third to take a 3 – 0 win. Ben Rothwell and McKee would add the two goals, assists to Johnson and Matheson. Ellis earned the shutout between the pipes.
The three wins would put the boys in second place, a half point behind Goderich. The second place finish would mean that they would play Aylmer, also undefeatead, in the semi-finals on Monday.
The fans were treated to an action-packed game that saw lots of chances at both ends, but no scoring until Robinson went for a skate and dangled around a couple of the Aylmer defenders, took the puck deep into the corner and fed Gottfried in front of the net . Gottfried would make no mistake in finding the back of the net with just 2.8 seconds left on the clock in the first period. Both goaltenders made numerous highlight reel saves, but neither team could bury the biscuit. Listowel wins 1 – 0, Nethercott earned the shut-out, and the team earned a spot in the finals.
Travel back in time one year to last year's finals.......Listowel vs Goderich. Goderich wins 1 – 0 in overtime. The Sailor's fans and players were very confident that they were going to be going for another firetruck ride around town, just like last year, however, the Cycs had a different idea in mind. Not this year!!!!! Coach Ken once again reminded the boys about finishing their season going undefeated in this tournament, winning the trophy for themselves, their parents, their coaches, their team mates and for the town of Listowel. The Cycs hit the ice, believing that they were the ones who would be doing the victory lap this year. The Sailors ran into penalty trouble early on and the Cycs made them pay. The first of three powerplay goals was scored by Robinson from Fletcher and Curtis Jackson, less than three minutes into the game. Matheson would stretch the lead to two before the end of the first, assisted by Johnson and Reece Reading, forcing a goal tender change in the Goderich end. The Sailors would battle back to cut the lead in half early in the second, but the Cycs would regain the two goal lead, with just 1:33 left in the game, as McKee would finish off a Matheson pass. With the net empty, the Sailors tried their best to beat the strong defensive play of the Cyclones, but they just could not penetrate the zone. The final buzzer sounded and the scoreboard showed a 3 – 1 victory for the Cyclones. This is only the second time that a Listowel team has claimed the A Championship in the 62 year history of the Young Canada Week tournament.
The coaching staff is very proud of the way the boys bought into the team system and the way that each and every player improved throughout the season.