Feb 25, 2014 | kferguson | 1568 views
Peewee HL Girls Storm Brantford
This last
weekend, the Saugeen Shores Peewee House League girls, sponsored by the Port
Elgin Veterinary Clinic and Port Elgin Giant Tiger, went to the 33rd Annual
Walter Gretzky Hockey Tournament in Brantford. In the past, the Saugeen Shores girls
have always enjoyed success at this tournament. This year, with five hometown teams
and their families cheering them on, this tournament was as exciting as ever.
The Peewees were without defenseman Carly Acton, who was on loan to the Winnipeg Jets. The girls played their first game on Friday against the Almaguin Gazelles, the team the girls faced last year in the Peewee House League finals at this same tournament. Last year the girls lost the gold medal to this team. This year would be different! The Storm scored first. Power forward Jayeden Solomon, with an assist from defenseman Jolina McLean, put the Storm on the board. However, the Gazelles tied up the game with just over two minutes left in the first period. Solomon struck again in the second period, assisted by the defensive pairing of Josie Berry and McLean. The Gazelles were not going to go down without a fight and tied the game again with four minutes left in the third period. However, Solomon completed her hat-trick, assisted by defenseman Kaitlin Ferguson and winger Paige Akerman, giving the Storm a 3-2 win over their former victors. The MVP for the Storm was Keyanna Kimewon.
On Saturday, the Storm faced the West Lorne Comets. The game was scoreless for almost the entire first period, until the Comets slipped one passed our impeccable and implacable goalie Keyanna Kimewon. However, the second period brought on the beginning of the deluge. Solomon blasted the puck past the Comet goalie (who would soon be seeing stars) to tie up the game. The Comets scored another goal as a result of a mad melee in front of the Storm net. Did that get the Saugeen girls down? No! The third period was all Storm! Solomon tied up the game with another unassisted detonation from just inside the Comets' blue line. The Storm's third goal came from a telepathic pass by forward Lauren Kahgee to centreman Jayeden Solomon, giving her her second hat-trick of the tournament. Did the Storm abate? No! Solomon was unstoppable. Another goal assisted by forwards Leigha Roote and Paige Akerman, and then another goal by Solomon with help from Roote again! The final score was 5-2. The MVP for this game was Jayeden Solomon.
On Sunday, the Storm met their old rivals the West Grey House League Girls. These teams know each other well, and West Grey knew they were going to have a tough match. Jayeden Solomon again started the game with an unassisted goal. However, West Grey's defensive machinations made sure that Solomon did not touch the puck again unhindered. As Saugeen's top scorer was closely guarded, her teammates tried to rally. Hard work by centreman Charlotte Berry and wingers Paige Akerman, Alicia Beauchamp, Renee Brown, Lauren Kahgee, and Leigha Roote kept the game close, but the West Grey girls surged ahead to pot three goals, handing the Storm their first loss of the tournament. The MVP was Paige Akerman.
With two wins and one loss, the Storm were still in the semi-finals later that same Sunday. The girls faced the Orillia Hawks, a team that had not been scored on yet during the tournament. The Hawks came screaming at the Storm, scoring finally at the end of the second period. But Saugeen was undeterred. Led by another Solomon goal, assisted by Alicia Beauchamp, the Storm tied the game. They then took the lead with a goal by Leigha Roote, assisted by Beauchamp and Renee Brown, at the one minute, forty-three second mark. The Storm's defensive corps of Layla Cushnie, Jolina McLean, Josie Berry, and Kaitlin Ferguson worked hard to keep the puck away from Storm goalie Keyanna Kimewon. However, the Hockey Gods are fickle. The Hawks tied up the with 1 minute and 11 seconds left in the game. This sent the game into sudden-death, 3-on-3 overtime. But a long weekend of awesome hockey battles left our Storm girls with little left in the tank. The Hawks scored the only goal they needed to send them through to the championship final. Even the Orillia Packet called this game a "nail-biter." The MVP for this game was Kaitlin Ferguson.
The Storm girls played some of their best hockey this year at the Walter Gretzky tournament. The Orillia Hawks ended up beating the West Lorne Comets in the finals 2-1, so it is easy to conceive that our Storm girls were definitely in the mix for best teams at the tournament. The Saugeen Storm girls should be proud of their efforts and be congratulated on representing Saugeen Shores once again at the 33rd Annual Walter Gretzky tournament.