The Port Elgin Home Hardware/Dunlop Fuels Saugeen Shores Novice Rep team travelled to Strathroy this past weekend to compete in the 45th annual Strathroy Olympics Rep Tourney. The team battled from beginning to end and came away with a much deserved bronze medal.
Saugeen Shores opened the weekend on Friday afternoon against the hometown Strathroy team. The boys seemed to have a hard time getting started after the long drive down and in the end lost 5-0.
The Storm got another chance to redeem themselves a couple of hours later when they faced off against the Listowel Cyclones. The teams seemed evenly matched from the opening period and it wasn’t until 3 minutes into the second before the boys got on the board. Jacob Condy scored on a breakaway followed by a second goal by Hale Schoneck on an assist from Ethan Greig to end the second period with a 2-0 lead. The Cyclones weren’t about to give up and scored in the third period but it wasn’t enough as the Storm held on for a 2-1 victory. Eoin MacKay, Austin Hagen and Donovan Kewageshig were relentless in their pursuit of the puck throughout the game. Jarrett Blue was strong in net to hold off Listowel in the final minutes.
The boys were up early on Saturday morning as they faced Tillsonburg in their third game of the tournament. With our goalie out sick, Reed Stauffer stepped in and played a solid game leading his team to a 2-2 tie. Tillsonburg scored first before Jacob Condy tied the game on an unassisted marker. Nick Scott and Nic Lalonde dug hard in the corners to help their team keep it close. Five minutes later, the opposition scored and seemed to have the game in hand. But our boys wouldn’t give up and with 26 seconds left in the third period, Dane Heipel scored on an assist from Jacob Condy to tie up the game and send it into overtime. A high action 3 on 3 scoreless overtime period followed that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats. Ethan Greig and Carter O’Leary played hard on defense to keep the Tilsonburg team away from our net.
The final game of the round robin pitted the Storm against the undefeated Petrolia Oilers. Despite hard work and solid backchecking between the blue lines, the Storm came up short 2-0.
Based on the tournament point system, the boys finished in 3rd and played in the bronze medal game on Sunday afternoon against Tillsonburg. Jarrett Blue was back in net and Sam Flarity helped to keep his team in the hunt. But early into the second period, Tilsonburg held a 2-0 lead and seemed to be in control of the game. The Storm didn’t give up however, scoring with less than a minute to go in the 2nd on a goal by Hale Schoneck with an assist from Jacob Condy. Then with 2:21 left in the third, Jacob scored on an assist from Hale to send the game into overtime once again.
The first overtime yielded no score and a second overtime of 3 on 3 action was up next. The crowd was treated to an exciting finish as it became the must watch game of the day. With 1:39 left in the 2nd overtime, Hale Schoneck scored on a breakaway bringing the Saugeen Shores parents to their feet with a 3-2 overtime win and the bronze medal.
It’s back to league play for the Storm this week with games against Durham and Hanover.
Written by: Christine Flarity