By D. Crosetta
The Saugeen Shores Storm Midget Girls C team (sponsored by Giant Tiger and Queen’s Bar & Grill) travelled to the Kitchener as one of ten provincial teams vying for the Fallfest Hockey Tournament championship title.
The Storm team was unbeaten in the preliminary round robin games and finished first in their pool with a record of three wins and a tie.
Storm’s opening game of the tournament
was against the Mount Brydges Cougars.
Storm jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Sam Harvie
(assisted by McKenzie Brown and Emma DeBoer) and Jocelyn Parker (assisted by
Brown and Samantha Albright). Undaunted,
the Mount Brydges team responded with three unanswered goals to go ahead
3-2. With less than two minutes left in
the game, Storm’s Brown scored on a great individual effort to tie the game
up. Both teams then went into defensive
shell and the game ended in a 3-3 draw.
The Saugeen Shores Midget Girls then
played the North Halton Twisters. The
Storm severely outshot the other team but was unable to find the back of the
net until the third period when Brown scored to make it 1-0 (assisted by Sabrina
Goegan and Parker). North Halton replied
soon after with a goal of their own to make it 1-1. But Storm continued their barrage, and Teila
Becker potted a goal to restore Storm’s lead (assisted by Rayne Crosetta and
Parker). Storm’s Goegan added an
insurance marker (assisted by Leah Tuck and DeBoer) to seal the win with a
score of 3-1.
Storm’s next opponent was the West
Northumberland Wild team. Once again,
the Storm team dominated the play and went ahead 2-0 in the first period with
two goals by Brown (with Goegan assisting on the first goal). Crosetta scored in the second period
(assisted by Becker) to increase Storm’s lead.
Neither team were able to score in the third period, and the game ended
with Storm winning 3-0 giving Storm goalie Bryanna Cobean her first shut out of
the tourney.
The final round robin game had the
Storm face an unbeaten Brockville Angels team.
This game was a defensive duel from the opening faceoff and remained scoreless
after two periods. The Storm team kept pressing and Brown finally solved the Brockville
goalie midway through the third period (assisted by Teaghan Johnston). Storm was able to hold onto the slim one goal
lead and collected the 1-0 win, which earned them the top berth in the
semi-finals.
The Storm Midget Girls met the host
team Kitchener Lady Rangers in their semi-final game. It didn’t take long before Storm’s prolific
goal scorer Brown gave her team a 1-0 lead (assisted by Goegan and Tuck). Minutes later, Storm went ahead 2-0 when
Becker scored (assisted by Crosetta and DeBoer). Brown got credited with another goal when she
deflected in a point shot from Kaylee Martin to give Storm some breathing room,
which was timely because Kitchener scored soon after to make it 3-1. But Parker’s goal (assisted by Becker and
Brown) at the end of the second period restored Storm’s three goal lead. Early in the third period, Brown fired a
bullet shot into the back of the net to cap off her hat-trick (assisted by
Albright and Martin) and give Storm a 5-1 lead.
Storm goalie Cobean continued to turn aside some good scoring chances
from the other team, but Kitchener managed to squeak another goal past her
before the game ended. Storm walked away
with a 5-2 victory and a well-earned spot in the championship game.
The Storm Midget Girls C team faced
a strong Kanata Rangers team in the gold medal game. Unfortunately during the
first shift of the game, a bad bounce off the glass behind the Storm net
allowed Kanata to bang in a loose puck putting Storm behind 1-0. The Storm team then played most of the first
period short-handed but was able to keep Kanata from adding to their lead with
strong penalty killing. The Storm team wasn’t able to generate any good scoring
chances in the second period due to Kanata’s tenacious checking, but Saugeen
Shores didn’t get discouraged. As the
third period was winding down, Storm right winger Becker scored a beauty goal
from the slot set up from a nice passing play between Crosetta and Albright,
which tied the game up 1-1. In the dying
seconds of the game, Storm goalie Cobean made a tremendous save on a Kanata
breakaway protecting the tie and forcing overtime to determine the winner. The
ten minute overtime period was a three-on-three format and the nail biting in
the stands reached an all time peak. Kanata had the first opportunity to win
the game but missed the net on a clear cut breakaway. Storm then grabbed the rebound off the back
boards, and got the puck to Brown who deked around both defensemen and buried
the game winning goal top corner (assisted by Johnston and Harvie). The Saugeen Shores Storm Midget Girls C team
jumped on the ice to celebrate their tournament victory.
The entire Storm coaching staff consisting of Head Coach – Wayne
Albright, Asst Coach – Rick Johnston, Asst Coach – Danielle Bennett, and
Trainer – Rona Cobean was very proud of the way the girls competed. The Storm team was missing top forward
Delaney Brown all weekend due to injury, but their two lines outworked their
opponent’s full bench the entire tournament and absolutely deserved to be
rewarded with the gold medal championship.