For the 3rd straight year the Bantam Cycs managed
to claim top spot in the Elmvale Tourny beating Highland Storm 1-0 in the
final.
As the score suggested the game was a tight checking affair
with both teams battling hard to limit the opposition’s scoring chances. Bailey
Matheson would get the Cycs on the board late in the 1st as he
tucked home a Parker Yungblut rebound (Cole McKee drawing the 2nd
assist). That would be all the scoring needed as Jacob Nethercott would be rock
solid in net and the Cycs defensive core of Yungblut, Will Calder, Ben Rothwell,
Reece Reading & Curtis Jackson played a great game especially late in the
game as the Cycs were short-handed for the last 5 minutes.
The weekend started on Friday as the Cycs faced Manitoulin
Island Panthers in the tournament opener. This game was just the beginning of
what became the tournament theme, as it was another low scoring affair. Reese Johnson would get the Cycs on the board
on the power-play (Derek Fisher, Reading assisting). Again the would be all the
scoring as the local lads hung on for the 1-0 victory.
Game 2 would be Saturday morning against a good Pentang
team. This game was much faster and featured many scoring chances. Again the
Cycs would get on the board 1st as Josh Gottfried batted home the
rebound (Bryce Fletcher, Fishers assisting). Penetang would tie the game in the
2nd then take the lead early in the 3rd despite some
great goaltending by Braeden Ellis. Undaunted the local youths would tie the
game on a nice McKee tip (Lucas Jamieson, Jackson assisting), then take the
lead with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game as Johnson would deposit a
strange bounce off the boards (Reading, Fischer assisting). Ellis would shut
the door as the Flames pressured securing the 3-2 victory.
With the 2 victories the Cycs were assured a spot in the
semi-finals but still had to finish out the round-robin part of the tourney against
Coldwater. This game was dominated by the Cycs who scored 1 in the 1st
period (Jamieson unassisted) then 2 more in the 2nd (Jackson from
McKee & Jamieson, then Fischer from Jackson). The 3rd period got
a little chippy as the Wildcats became frustrated but calmer heads prevailed
and the Cycs were off to the semi-finals against the host Elmvale team.
The game would be a rematch of the Port Dover finals which
saw the Coyotes prevail in overtime. As expected this was another close
checking affairs and despite it being the Cycs 3rd game of the day
they came out with lots of energy, actually controlling the majority of the
play. However it would be Elmvale who would score 1st in the 2nd
period but the Cycs replied less than a minute later as Johnson would tuck home
the errant Elmvale pass. Despite several chances in the 3rd period
these 2 teams would again head into overtime. Elmvale pressed early in the
extra frame but Ellis remained calm in the Cycs net, and as the 5 minutes
progressed the Cycs would get a chance or 2 but neither team would score,
sending this game into a shoot-out. Johnson,
Fletcher & Ellis would prove to be the heros as the 1st 2 scored
on their chances & Ellis didn’t allow any thus giving the local lads the
date in the finals.
On some tournaments notes Cycs Cole McKee won the tournament
shoot-out contest, while Jacob Nethercott was awarded the Tournament MVP as he
didn’t allow a goal in any of the 3 games he played. Obviously the coaching
staff was pleased with the overall team effort and saw lots of areas of
improvement as the tournament progressed. Congrats to everyone as it was a
great team effort.
Goalies (L-R) Braeden Ellis, Jacob Nethercott Middle Row (L-R) Reece Reading, Cole McKee, Will Calder, Reese Johnson, Bryce Fletcher, Curtis Jackson, Bailey Matheson, Ben Rothwell, Parker Yungblut, Lucas Jamieson Back Row (L-R) Jerry Rozendal -coach, Austin McGrath, Cooper Miller, Rob Hollinger -coach, Bruce Fitzgerald -coach, Derek Fischer, Larry Gordon -manager, Brian Tucker -trainer, Josh Gottfried