written by: Karen MacDonald
photo: a gold worthy team celebrates silver
The BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team participated in the Chris Knott Tournament this past weekend and brought home the silver medal in their division. Atom BB had four spirited, well played games and should be very proud of their performance. The action started on Friday afternoon when the Saugeen Shores Storm met up with the Walkerton Capitals in Southampton. The two teams kept the action close throughout the first period and the second began with the teams tied at one a piece. The Storm opened the floodgates early in the middle period and never looked back when the line consisting of Eric Charlebois, Michael Fiegehen, and Will Rickerby racked up four goals during those ten minutes of play. The Storm added one more in the latter half of the third and won the opening game, 6-2. Scoring honors go to the following players; Murray Martin (2), Will Rickerby (2), Michael Fiegehen (1) and Eric Charlebois (1). Providing assists were the following; William Forsyth (2), Charlebois (2), Nick Sutter-Lammie (1), Rickerby (1), Fiegehen (1) and Thomas MacDonald (1).
The BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team next took on the Ingersoll Express on Saturday morning at the Plex. The tournament fans were treated to a fast paced game that remained close throughout. The Storm were the first to score when Will Rickerby, assisted by Michael Fiegehen scored late in the opening period. The Express came back to even up the scoreboard during the second. After that the fight was on to break the tie. Both teams skated hard in their efforts to go up by one but it would be the Storm who found success. Fiegehen, assisted by Murray Martin, scored what would turn out to be the game winning goal early in the third. The pace of the game intensified even more during the final minutes as the Express pulled their goalie in favour of the extra attacker. The Storm dug deeper and held the Express at bay to preserve their win, 2-1. The two wins assured the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team a berth in the championship final on Sunday.
The third game of the tournament saw the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team facing off against the Petrolia Oilers. Having met up with Oilers once before, the Storm knew that they were in for a physical, action packed game and they were not disappointed. Offsetting penalties were handed out early in an attempt to settle things down but the intensity of the game challenged the discipline of the Saugeen players as the number of penalty minutes began to mount. The Oilers found the back of the Storm net in the dying seconds of the first period to go up 1-0. The back and forth action continued and the Storm had their share of quality shots on net but the glove hand of the Oiler goalie was up to the challenge until Michael Fiegehen found an opening to take the puck end to end and rocket one past the Petrolia netminder. Late in the third, the Oilers capitalized on a Storm penalty to score a power play goal and go up 2-1 over the Saugeen team. The Storm players never gave up the fight but their fate was sealed when the Oilers got an empty net goal in the final seconds to take the game 3-1.
Saturday night was reserved for fun as the Storm team took part in the Skills competition. The team representatives put in a solid performance, earning an overall second place ranking. Highlights for the Storm were; the speed competition where the Walkerton Capitals beat them by the narrowest of margins (two-tenths of a second); the slalom which they won handily and the shooting competition which had them tied for second. Jack Flarity stood tall in net for his team, allowing the second least amount of goals during the shootout. Congratulations to players Paul Leger, Thomas MacDonald, Murray Martin and Jack Middleton and goalie, Jack Flarity who represented the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team and kudos to their teammates who came out to support and cheer them on. Much thanks to the organizers and volunteers who kept the tournament running smoothly, you did an outstanding job throughout the entire weekend.
Sunday was the final day of tournament action and the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team knew that they would be facing the Petrolia Oilers once again in the championship game. They were ready for the test. The team took to the ice determined to play their game and not fall prey to the perceived Oilers instigations. Fortunately on this day, to the credit of both teams, all the players seemed to be ready to focus on the game at hand and the crowd was given an exciting show of good, relatively clean hockey. The excitement ramped up a notch when the Oilers managed to capitalize on an early Storm penalty to score a power play goal in the first and quickly followed it with another to add some insurance. The Storm found themselves facing a 2-0 deficit heading into the second. The passion of the Storm players was evident during the middle period as they clearly owned the ice, keeping the Oilers scrambling in their own zone for extended periods of time. The BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team relentlessly tested the Oilers with some amazing work on the boards and around the net. The defense set up an impenetrable wall at the blue line to allow their forwards the opportunity to net that all important goal. Shots were taken, rebounds were fired and the puck went around the net, over the net, into the goal pads, everywhere but across that goal line. Despite the frustrating circumstances, the Storm players maintained their composure and managed to keep the intensity up in their quest to bring home the championship. The two teams gave their fans some fine hockey to watch. The Storm goalie was pulled in the final minutes to bring on the extra attacker and the Storm had the pressure on the Oiler team until the puck popped free and a Petrolia player managed to scoop it up and find the empty net to bring the score to 3-0 for the Oilers. A win would not be in the cards for the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team despite their admirable efforts and they earned the silver medal for what looked like a gold medal performance from both teams.
There will be no time for rest for the BDO Dunwoody Atom BB team as they meet up with the Listowel Cyclones on Monday, Mar. 8th in the semi-final round of the Lockridge division of the WOAA finals.
Go Storm Go!