Over the Christmas holidays the Sting travelled to Brantford to participate in the Wayne Gretzky Tournament. The boys played very well throughout the tournament making it to the finals against the Hamilton Bulldogs, before losing in a great game, 3-1.
Congratulations Lambton Jr. Sting, Silver Medalist- Wayne Gretzy Tournament
Game 1
The Saturday morning game was against the Kitchener Rangers. This was very fast paced game and a little bit chippy which suits this teams style of play. The Sting opened the scoring the 1st period with a goal from Nolan Farr assisted by Dante Fuoco and Cameron Rombouts. The score would remain this way, thanks to our defense corp of Alec Trusler, Ben Arthurs, Joe Correia, Gage Langford, Brett Allardyce and Duncan Core and to the great play of our goalie Jakob Knowles.
Cameron Adam added an empty net goal for good measure, assisted by Theo Crombeen.
MVP of the Game was Jakob Knowles.
Game 2
The Saturday afternoon game was again against a league rival team, the home team Brantford 99er's. Like 2 earlier games this year, nothing could be decided between these two teams, as it ended 2-2. Brantford led after the 1st period 2-0 despite being outplayed. In the second period the Sting answered with a power play goal by Dante Fuoco on a nice 2 on 1 with Nolan Farr. Then 5 minutes later Nolan Farr tied the game, dancing into the offensive zone scoring shorthanded assisted by Carson Payne.
This momentum gained was soon extinguished in the 3rd period by the refs as they called 5 minor penalties, including a 5-3. But the Sting fought hard keeping it a tie game. The largest threat to breaking the tie came with only 5 minutes remaining and Brantford awarded a penalty shot. Cole Doig was in net and had the responsibility of holding the fort, which he did with a nice sliding pad save denying the 99er's the lead.
MVP of the Game was Cole Doig.
Game 3
Sunday morning the Sting faced the Hamilton Bulldogs and fell short to a tough team 4-1. Scoring the lone goal was Josh Vale with a beautiful finish, on a 2 on 1 with Cameron Adam. Ben Arthurs got the other assist on the play.
Despite the loss the defense played very well against this offensively potent team.
MVP of the Game was defensemen Alec Trusler.
Quarter Final
The Sting had to face the Buffalo Regals in the quarter finals. The Sting proved to be too fast and aggressive for this team coming away with a 7-0 victory and advancing to the semis. The scoring started early in the 1st with Carson Payne jamming in a rebound in front of the net, assisted by Curtis Marks and Luke Ross. All lines got into the scoring including 3 power play goals. Scorers were:
Nolan Farr 3G Luke Ross 1A
Cameron Adam 1G 2A Alec Trusler 1A
Josh Vale 1G 2A Curtis Marks 1A
Dante Fuoco 2A Cameron Rombouts 1A
Theo Crombeen 1G 1A Brett Allardyce 1A
Carson Payne 1G
MVP of the Game was Cameron Adam.
Semi Finals
The Sting met the Kitchener Rangers once again in the semifinals. But this time the game was not as close, as the fired up team came ready to prove that the win earlier in the tournament was not a fluke, winning convincingly 6-1. There was no scoring in the 1st period but right from the opening faceoff the Sting controlled the play. It wasn't until late in the 2nd period that the Sting finally got on the board with a goal from Brett Allardyce, assisted by Curtis Marks and Carson Payne. One minute later Gage Langford fed up to Dante Fuoco who relayed it to Nolan Farr who netted a goal to put the Sting up 2-0 going into the 3rd period. Kitchener scored early in the period to make it 2-1 and then had a power play, threatening to tie the game. However, this proved to be the turning point of the game as Dante Fuoco, while killing the penalty, out hustled a Rangers defender to a loose puck and chipped it by the goalie making it 3-1, taking the wind out of the Rangers sails.
After this the flood gates opened as the Sting added 3 more goals all from defensemen. Two goals were scored from the point one from Joe Correia and the other from Gage Langford, while Brett Allardyce scored his 2nd of the game putting in his own rebound. assisting on those goals were: N. Farr (2) and C. Rombouts. The Sting moved to the finals against the Hamilton Bulldogs.
MVP of the Game was defensemen Brett Allardyce.
Finals
In the finals it was a showdown against the Hamilton Bulldogs, a team that beat the Sting earlier in the round robin, but the boys were eager to get the chance to redeem themselves. This was a entertaining game with both teams giving it their all. In the end the Bulldogs proved to be the better team winning 3-1, but the Sting gave them a good run and made them earn the championship. Cameron Adam scored the lone goal while being shorthanded, assisted by Curtis Marks and Duncan Core.
MVP of the Game was Nolan Farr. Josh Vale also was awarded the Most Sportsmanlike Award for the tournament.
The boys should be very proud of themselves. They represented Lambton County very well at this tournament, playing their hearts out and playing as a team. Congratulations on being the 2009 Finalists at the 40th Annual Wayne Gretzky Tournament!