Storm #3 Come Close in Championship Series, News, Novice LL 3, U8 & U9 (OMHA), 2012-2013 (Saugeen Shores Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2012-2013 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Mar 27, 2013 | Richard Leaver | 1292 views
Storm #3 Come Close in Championship Series
This weekend we saw a great Championship Series between the top two teams of the WOAA Novice North Division; Saugeen Shores Storm #3 and The Owen Sound Jr. Attack.  These were two great teams playing off as the Jr. Attack had only lost one game all season and The Storm#3 only losing one game all playoffs before the start of this best of 3 Series.  

Game #1 Owen Sound Bayshore

As we all know these are two great teams playing for a Championship so it was no surprise that both teams came out flying and looking to get that first marker.  We saw some great play by Storm #3 in The Jr. Attack’s zone digging to gain possession of the puck and getting it out of ours.  Unfortunately The Jr. Attack scored the first marker in a scramble in front of the net at 6:22 of the period and the  great battling of Storm#3 kept it that way until the end of the period.

In the second we saw some great puck movement by both teams skating, passing and shooting like crazy but most importantly Talan was standing on his head for his teammates making fantastic save after fantastic save.  Our defensemen, Jack, Brennan, Zach, Devin were fantastic at scooping the puck from in front of the net and getting off to the side boards or corner, moving it up the boards to our Wingers and Centers to get out of our own end.  Jack was skating well with the puck when he had a chance and made many breaks to the net, Brennan picked up on this as well and tried it out as well a few times.   Zach and Devin where solid as a rock on D and continued to shutdown the opponents, hold the puck inside the blueline (which was no easy task against this team) and also went for a skate with the puck a bit when they had the chance.  Unfortunately at 3:25 of the period Talan was covering the puck as it was knocked loose and in a bit of ciaos in front of the net the score became 2-0 for The Jr. Attack, and remained there despite the hard work of Storm#3.

In the start of the third Jack took it upon himself and skated the length of the ice to wrist a shot past the Jr. Attack goaltender to put his team back into the game with a score of 2-1.  This gave The Storm a bit of a lift as we saw the Wingers Sabra, Liam (Hound Dog),  working hard in The Attack end going to the net as well as skating with the puck and battling for lose pucks wherever they lay.  Andy played well too he played good position in our end as he was moving from the boards to the middle of the ice ready to break out very well. We saw Brennan and Nick trade positions as Nick was amazing at playing the 2-1’s and always knocking the puck away from the scoring zone and moving up the boards and out of our end.  Brennan was a force once moved up to forward as he was digging like crazy when he could for the puck. But Wes and Caleb where determined to keep their team in the game with great rush after rush but the Jr. Attack were shutting them down   Then out of the blue another “garbage goal" by the Attack as a scramble in front of the net made the score 3-1 at 6:23 and once again at 5:12, despite Talan’s great work in net.    Well Wes finally got a clean clear break less than a minute later and with a nice shot beat the goaltender 5 hole to make the score 4-2.  In the dying minutes the team worked hard Caleb Wes and Jack tried to make rushed to the net but the Final score ended 4-2.


Game #2 Southampton

Before this game you could tell it was going to be a great battle as there was a tonne of energy in the room.  Music was playing, players getting war paint on to scare their opponents some laughing and joking and even dancing.  Parents, Grandparents, Brothers/sisters, and even cousins came out to see this big game, and they came armed with cow bells, horns ready to cheer their team on.  

The Storm got off to a strong start and it was looking pretty good for them off the hope as The Jr. Attack were not ready for such a strong start.  This was quiet the battle between both teams as the play was all over the ice.  Talan was amazing in net making some beauty saves and covering the puck up when needed.  Our forwards brought on the play hard against the Jr. Attack in their end as we went to the net and battled hard for the puck down low and in the corners.  The Defense was stellar at holding the blueline and recognizing when The Jr. Attack was winging the puck around the boards and hustling to get to the boards and hold it in and even a shot on net a few times.  Despite our great efforts the Jr. Attack scored first with a bit of a scramble out front at 4:52 and then once more 4:27 as this put them up by 2-0 as the score remained that way for the rest of the period.

Our efforts to start off the second period were great and you would never tell that we were down by 2 goals.  Caleb, Wes and Jack had some great rushes to the net they were always back to help get the puck out of our end with really impressive 2 way play.  We even saw Devin and Zach recognize their team needed a big play and tried their luck by skating with the puck who are usually our stay at home D.  Nick who was Talan’s best friend all game was amazing, always knocking the loose pucks away from the front of the net into the corner, breaking up The Jr. Attack rushing time after time.  Oh did I mention he had a 102 degree fever before the game as well, and insisted to his parents he was going to play.  Brennan was digging for loose pucks and trying his chance at skating with it.  Sabra was a force to be reckoned with as she was winning every battle for the puck along the boards and going to the net hard as a power forward does.  Liam “The Hound Dog” was perfect all game with position as a winger, he was always in the right place to break out and always in the corner or in front of the net in the opponents end looking to sniff out those goals of and I have to mention he skated the fastest I have ever seen his skate for a loose puck in the first.  Anderson was skating very well and was looking good in our end as well as he was always on the boards or in the middle of the ice in our end looking for his team to move the puck out of our end and won a few battles as well.  Oh and Jack scored on a beautiful rush end to end @5:39 of the period to put us at a one goal game!

With our season on the line and the score 2-1 we knew we had a chance to get Owen Sound in the third and extend our season one more game.  This was much better than the other games vs The Jr. Attack as we have lost 5-0, 5-0, and 7-1 every time we had played them this season. So the coaches asked the players to play the hardest period they have played all year and boy oh boy did we see it.  

With the crowd cheering, cowbells ringing and horns a blasting the energy was very high at puck drop.  It went fast but in just under 2 minutes at 8:09 Wes finally got that goal he had been looking for against this team all season and The Storm had tied it up. As the Coliseum was the loudest I had ever heard it as the puck dropped at center ice.  The teams were working hard as we saw some fantastic saves by both goaltenders and players showing their great skill they had developed over the year.  The Storm got caught in their end and The Jr. Attack went up by one with another scramble in front.  The team still didn’t seem disturbed as they continued to play so hard all period and then The Jr. Attack slipped another just under the pad of Talan to make it 4-2 @ 1:25.  Despite pulling the goalie to ice 6 skaters The Storm were unsuccessful and the buzzer went.  You would have never known that they lost as the parents and supporters where cheering like crazy to celebrate the amazing season they had, so the players offered a salute from the bench for their support all season.  It was tough to not win The Championship at the end of such an amassing season by the team but knowing they had become such great players and teammates all season was gratitude enough (and a medal to show their efforts didn’t hurt either).

The Coaches would like to thank all the players for their hard work and dedication all season.  It was a real pleasure getting to know you all and we loved coaching and helping you develop as hockey players.  To the parents we would like to thank you for giving us you kids to work with all season and being so supportive of our program.  To all the other fans, Grandparents, Sisters, Brothers, Cousins, Family Friends we had out to our games this season, we thank you for cheering for us.

Thanks Team and I look forward to seeing you all play in the years to come.