The Sept. 30-Oct. 2nd weekend, the Minor Atom AAA team travelled to
Newmarket/Aurora to participate in the inaugural YSE Steamtrain Shootout
Tournament.
On the Friday, the boys faced the Toronto Nationals. It was a faced
pace game with Lambton Jr Sting getting the first goal of the game. The
game had a lot of back and forth. The boys just couldn't put the puck
in the net, hit the crossbar a few times and shot wide. The game ended
in a 3-3 tie.
After a quick break for a subway sandwich the boys were back on the ice to face the tournament host York-Simcoe Express. Game started off very even with it being 0-0 after the first period. YSE managed to pull ahead to a 0-3 lead in the second. Boys had lots of chances, but still struggled to put the puck in the net. With a last attempt to bring the game close, the Sting pulled our goalie, but YSE managed to get an empty net goal to make the final score 1-4. After a good night's sleep, the boys were ready to face off against the Brantford 99ers. The boys were on fire, lots of passing, lots of goals and even a victorious penalty shot to assist in the Sting coming ahead with a shutout win of 9-0. Final round robin game had the Sting facing off against North Central Predators. Very close game, the boys never gave up, scored 3 goals in the last 5 minutes of the game to take the victory with a score of 5-3. This win put us in second place overall after round robin play.
Semi-final game allowed for a rematch against YSE. We started off the scoring early in the first period. The boys showed determination and with some key saves by our goalie, the Sting took the win to advance to the finals with a score of 3-1. Finals had the Sting facing off against the Toronto Nationals. This was a great game to watch - lots of excitement and back and forth. Even though we were down by 2 goals at the end of the second, the boys never gave up, they fought hard in the corners, they were first to the puck and their hard work paid off with a championship win of 6-5. Great weekend boys! Way to go Sting! Gold medal champions!
