Well, our boys certainly gave their coaches, parents and fans a very special belated Christmas gift.........
.........prior to Christmas the boys had two tough losses to Mitchell & Brussels/Blyth, but decided to treat everyone to a double overtime barn burner to capture the Regional Silverstick this past weekend in Tiverton/Kincardine, against old rivals the Mitchell Meteors.
The two games before Christmas had the boys travel down the road to Mitchell, where some penalties had the Metoers scoring and Riley getting the only accounted for marker in a tough 6-1 loss. Brussels-Blyth was to be a back to back weekend but due to an ice storm and many without hydro the Sunday game was postponed to this Saturday January 4th @6pm in Listowel. The boys kept their fans on the edge of their cold seats, down 1-0 after the first period (BB scored on a powerplay) the second period both teams came alive. After the Crusaders scored again early, Sam passed off to Riley who passed to Jake for the Cyclones first marker. Then Riley with just over a minute left scored the Cyclones second. BB took a penalty with 40 seconds left and Sage and Riley worked the puck over to Jake for his second of the game. Going into the third up 3-2 the boys all tried their best to hold off the Crusaders only to have them score a shorthanded and powerplay goal to win the game 4-3. Travis was excellent in net and the boys all worked hard as a team.
After a little Christmas turkey and some sweets the boys headed to Tiverton to begin Silverstick. Saturdays first match-up was with BCH, who we play in regular season. Partway through the first the boys were working hard and Jake passed to Riley for the Cyclones first. BCH added their first in the last minute. Second period brought both teams absolutely nothing and then the third period came alive to both penalties and scoring. Sage passed a nice one to Jake for a powerplay goal and BCH responded right back with their own powerplay marker. Riley then scored the winner. The boys second matchup was against South Huron and it took the first period for both teams to get to know one another, since we have never met up before, therefore after one, the period remained scoreless. South Huron then scored early in the second and then were assessed a penalty. On the powerplay the Cyclones worked hard with Blair passing to Jake and then Riley burying the puck in the net. Then 13 seconds later Blair was able to use his baseball skills and bat one in. Starting off the third Riley added the insurance marker but it was not to hold South Huron off from scoring two more for the game to end in a 3-3 tie.
Sunday the boys faced off against Tavistock. They knew they had to win and worked extremely hard to beat the Titans 3-1 to head off to the Semi finals later that night. (Jordan, Jake & Conner were the goal scorers for that game)
The Tiverton arena had a full crowd to watch the Cyclones take on the TwinCentre Stars.We have played each other a few times this season already so the boys knew they had to play their best and they did. The first goal came halfway through the second period when Nich slapped one from the blue line, Jake tried to duck but ended up using his soccer skills to helmet the puck in. Two minutes later Riley was left alone to score. Travis tried his best to keep the Stars at bay but they were able to squeak one by him with 27 seconds left. All the boys worked hard in the third period and had an outstanding victory, with Smiles on their faces they headed home for a good night sleep.
Mondays final in Kincardine against Mitchell was the highest attended crowd of the year. Old rivals and many matchups that could go either way, everyone knew this was going to be a "good ole hockey game"! The boys were ready to play....no score after one period left the fans on edge and more fans filtered in. Two minutes into the second Mitchell started the scoring and not too long after Sam stretched a pass to Jake who fed Riley. Four minutes left, the Meteors scored again but with a lot of team effort, Jake threw a pass to Blair who was able to pound one right back. Good thing the boys got their 2nd intermission "NetFlix" pep talk from their coaches, minus Pudge who was working hard. They all came out full speed and were able to give the eager fans their monies worth by taking the game into overtime. Part way through the first overtime, Riley passed the puck to Jake who heard the whomp in the back of the net and they both saw the puck move the mesh and come right back out! No official goal was accounted for(too bad they couldn't go to Toronto for video replay) and the boys say next time they are just going to "Cele". So into the 2nd overtime with 32 seconds left and to end the fans stress Jordy fed Jake who passed the puck off to Riley for the Cyclones to become Regional Silverstick Champions!
On behalf of the parents and boys I would like to thank our coaches for taking time out of their busy holiday schedules and coaching the boys to this milestone that they share with their Listowel Atom and Bantam Cyclones.
Lisa Zyta