Dec 06, 2022 | Brendan Magee | 143 views
U9's complete successful 4 game road trip with a record of 3 wins and a loss!
The Listowel U9T1 team had a busy four days travelling to Port Elgin, Shallow Lake, Drayton and Kincardine on consecutive nights, overall it was a successful trip as they picked up wins against Saugeen Shores, Shallow Lake and Kincardine and fell by a goal vs a very tough Drayton team.
The road trip began Friday night with a stop in Port Elgin to play the Saugeen Shores Storm. Oliver Gutknecht made his debut in net and played outstanding, never stopped smiling the whole time as usual. In addition to Oliver's great play between the pipes the game was highlighted by Fin Long picking up his first hat trick of the year along with a 5 goal night from Ian Magee and Miles Good adding a hat trick of his own. With a trip to Shallow Lake to play at 10am the next morning most families stayed in the area, the group at the Holiday Inn had a swim and some always productive team bonding in the lobby.
Shallow Lake was next on the schedule as the Cyclones would get their first look at the Lakers. Sullivan Meulensteen was back between the pipes and would provide his usual brand of steady netminding. The game was highlighted by a Maddox Birk hat trick (and he's not even at full strength yet after fighting off the flu last week), two goals from Hunter Adamson and some ferocious defending by the Brandt "Scott Stevens" Donaldson.
Sunday saw the boys head to Drayton to face off against one of the best teams in the league and a rematch of the tournament final from a week ago. The Cycs would be short handed as Good came down with the flu and would be unavailable for the contest. The game didn't disappoint as the two teams went back and forth all game trading chances and goals. Sully and his Defender counterpart were both walls in their nets as the two teams put all sorts of rubber their way. In the end it would come down to the final shift, the game tied and Drayton would manage to find a way to get one past the Cycs to take the game by a single goal margin. The whole team played great in this one but the coaches were especially happy with the play of Alton Sholdice and Tyce Passmore who played their best games of the year.
After three tough games and lots of kilometers behind them the finale was set in Kincardine on Monday night as the Cycs would be in town for a rematch with the always tough Kinucks. Again they would be short as Good was still down and out with the flu. Similar to the last time these two teams played it would be a close checking and physical affair with neither team willing to give an inch. Magee would pace the offense with a hat trick compliments of a couple of beautiful set ups by his linemate Birk. Gutknecht was flying all night picking up two snipes but you got the feeling he could have had about six if not for some very solid Kinuck goaltending. The whole team played very solid defense in this contest anchored by Donaldson and Long on the point and when they did let the home team through for a chance their goalie Sully was their to make the big stop. The final result would be another win for the visitors by the narrowest of margins to complete the road trip and head home happy for some much needed rest.
The coaches were very proud of the teams performance on this long and difficult road trip, three wins and a narrow loss to a great opponent. After a few days off we're back at practice on Thursday and welcome the Storm to town on Saturday afternoon.