The team travelled to Forest to compete at the International Silver Stick on January 10, 11 and 12, a quick turnaround from winning the Regional Silver Stick in Kincardine only 11 days earlier. With some very stiff competition ahead of them the team knew they would have to compete hard to win.
Our first game Friday put us up against a strong team from Ayr, and although the team battled hard, a few mistakes left one of Ayr’s big horses open for a 5 point game. Ayr ended up winning the game 6 -1. This was a very key game for us as we knew the rest of our opponents were very similar to Ayr.
Our second game Friday saw us play Ingersoll, and a very tight game was played. Ingersoll had a 2 – 1 lead late in the third period when Blair Johnson scored on a shot that blew over the goalie’s shoulder and under the bar…still not sure if the goalie ever saw it. After 10 minutes of “sudden victory” or better known as “sudden death”, the game was still tied. To a shoot out we go, each team to have 3 shooters with total score winning. On the first shooter, Riley Kuepfer scored to put us up 1 – 0 in the shootout, which proved to be enough as goaltender Travis Bannerman shut the door on all three shooters for Ingersoll.
Later on Friday night the team attended the opening ceremonies at the arena in Forest. The boys had a great time trading pins and talking to players from the other centers. A great experience for each team member as they were paraded onto the ice surface with all of the other teams players.
Saturday’s final round robin game was clear, the team had to win to play in the semi finals on Sunday, lose and we go home. A very tough opponent in Mt. Brydges was between them another game. The team had previously lost 5 -2 to Mt. Brydges in a semi final game in the Mitchell tournament so they knew they again would have to play well. With some very solid defense and some timely goals the game ended up with a 4 – 3 win and the opportunity to win one more game to make the finals of this International Tournament!
Sunday’s game at 8:00am was another great team game for our boys, however a mid third period short-handed goal by a great team from Niagara Falls New York was the difference in a 2 -1 loss. We out chanced, out played and out worked the Niagara team but just could not get a good bounce to score the tying or winning goal.
To say that the team and coaching staff was not disappointed at the loss would have been a lie, but given the teams great play to get to where they were was a great accomplishment. Getting to the International Silver Stick in the first place is a huge accomplishment as that doesn’t happen every year. To battle as well as we did and be as close as we were in the semi finals is huge! This team was mere inches away from competing in the finals. The only two teams that had beaten us in the tourney were the two teams in the finals. To know that we were that close to the eventual winners (Niagara won the final 2 -1) was a proud moment for the whole team.
Job well done great accomplishment! Looking forward to the playoffs and competing against other top notch teams.