On November 4th weekend the Pee Wee Rep's travelled to Strathroy to participate in the Strathroy Rep olympics tournament. This weekend would be a very good test as the team has been undefeated so far this season.
The Pee Wee cyclones opened the tournament with a game versus a familiar opponent, Saugeen Shores. The team came out flying pinning the Saugenn team deep in their zone for most of the first period. Jacob Robinson opened the scoring with assists to Derek Fischer and Reid Gooding.
With only one goal to show for the hard work in the first the team pressed on. Brett MacLeod counted the second goal with helpers to Cooper Miller and Reece Reading. Saugeen Shores made it a one goal game later in the frame but Fischer capitalized late in the period to increase the teams lead to two again. Assists were to Miller and Reading again.
In the third the team didn't let up as Austin McGrath netted the fourth goal unassisted, Fischer tallied his second of the game to round out the scoring. Nick O'grady came away with the win between the pipes.
The next contest was against a team that was new for our squad this season, St. Mary's Rocks. The boys had a little bit of a sluggish start to the game. The play was very scrambly and neither team could get on track. The Cyclones had alot of great chances but could not put the puck by the strong St.Mary's goalie and midway through the secong the Rock's took a one goal lead.
The Listowel Cyclones fought back in the third and finally tied it a couple minutes in with a goal from Reading unassisted. The game was back and forth and young Luke Brubacher (called up for the weekend) stood tall in the net with some very nice stops.
The Cyclones dominated for much of the overtime but the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Goderich Sailors were the teams next opponent. The Sailors and Cyclones hadn't seen each other yet this season but claim very similar records in league play. This game was a very hard fought game with great efforts from all players.
Strong defensive play by Will Calder and Curtis Jackson helped the team keep it close. Forwards Michael Uptigrove and Josh Gottfried also provided amazing forchecking and hustle all game long. The team began to pull away in the third period and ended up with a 5-1 victory. Nick O'Grady played his best game of the season between the pipes and helped his team to the victory.
The final round robin game was set with B division #1 ranked Cyclones facing the hometown A division #2 ranked Strathroy Jr Rockets.
Strathroy brought a game to Listowel that the boys hadn't seen all year to this point. Alot of speed and very intense forchecking. The cyclones weren't quite ready for this game and it showed in the first period as the Rockets pinned the team deep most of the first period.
Strathroy scored with 3 mins. remaining in the first period and kept the pressure on most of the second period potting another early in the frame. The cyclones began to get on track in the third period and their physical play was starting to wear on the Rockets.
Reading finally got Listowel on the board with 40 seconds remaining with helpers from Uptigrove and Gottfried, but it was a little to late for the Cyc's as they fell short 2-1.
The team was able to qualify for the bronze metal game with their strong performance so far. The opponent was the St. Mary's Rock's whom Listowel tied earlier in the tournament.
The coaching staff wanted the team to get back to the basics for this game and win the game for absent coach Tim Good as he left earlier Sunday morning with his wife Deborah to deliver their first child. This was great motivation for the team and they came out flying.
The team played a very physical game with players Lucas Jamieson, Reid Gooding and Jacob "Killer" Robinson leading the way with some big hits. Gottfried tallied the only marker in the first period with the helper going to Gooding.
Congratulations to the players as follows it took all of their hard work and effort to win the bronze medal:
Goalies: Nick O'Grady 3-1-0 and Luck Brubacher 0-0-1.
Defence: Reece Reading, Reid Gooding, Will Calder and Curtis Jackson.
Forwards: Josh Gottfried, Lucas Jamieson, Derek Fischer, Jacob Robinson, Brett MacLeod, Michael Uptigrove, Austin McGrath and Cooper Miller.
All the players played great in the final game and the coaching staff was pleased with their effort all weekend. Special thanks to the coaches for the weekend and all their hard work: Ken Jaclin, Tim Good, Ryan Rozendal and Brent Berfelz.