Jan 04, 2013 | sbaia | 560 views
Erie North Shore Storm Peewee Minors Gretzky Tournament
The Peewee Minors travel to Brantford to compete in the Gretzky Tournament over Christmas break!
Thursday December 27 the Storm played their first game of the day and the tournament against the hometown Brantford 99ers. It became obvious very quickly that Brantford would reap the benefits of the hometown advantage while the Storm would be at a huge disadvantage. Even so the Storm struck first halfway through the first period with a shorthanded goal by Daniel Price assisted by Ethan Litster. Brantford evened it up a few minutes later ending the period in a tie. Second period saw the Storm come out ahead once again with a goal by Declan Handley assisted by Kristian Pelling. The third period did not go in the Storms favour as Brantford scored three more times (two of them thanks to power plays) ending the game with a score of 5-2. Goalie Connor Axford played strong in net even after receiving a roughing penalty from the Brantford refs, and was selected as the game MVP! The Storm were outshot by Brantford 25-9 and started off the tournament with a loss.
Thursday afternoon the Storm played game 2 of the tournament against the Syracuse Blazers. Syracuse scored first halfway through the first period, but Declan Handley tied it up a few minutes later with a power play goal assisted by Daniel Price and Kristian Pelling. Thirty seconds later Daniel got a goal of his own assisted by Michael Connelly ending the first period with the Storm in the lead. There was no more scoring by either team until the third period when Syracuse tied it up. That didn’t last long with Austin Marr scoring the game winner on an unassisted power play goal! With a final score of 3-2 the Storm earned their first victory of the tournament, outshooting their opponents 30-17. The Storm forwards, Rebecca Misiasz, Daniel Price, Austin Marr, Declan Handley, Owen Stannard, Ethan Litster, Robbie Brush and Kristian Pelling were a powerful presence against the Syracuse team and all played an impressive game! Goalie Scotti Beneteau played great in net and Michael Connelly was selected MVP of the game!
Friday December 28 at 9am the Storm played game 3 against the Waterloo Wolves. Thanks to Coach Troy’s curfew the night before the Storm were ready to face this strong team! With Goalie Connor Axford in net and the powerful Storm defensive lines, Waterloo was unable to get on the board. Both teams played hard and just when it looked like the game would end in a tie Declan Handley saved the day and buried the game winner in the Waterloo net assisted by Franco Shaften and Kristian Pelling. The Storm managed to hold off the Wolves the last two minutes of play and secured their second win of the tournament with a score of 1-0. The Storm outshot Waterloo 18-12. The Storm defensive players, Mitchell Renaud, Franco Shaften, Michael Connelly, Ryan Mucha and KayCyn Hernandez did a great job preventing any Waterloo scoring! Connor Axford earned the shutout and Austin Marr was selected game MVP!
Friday afternoon the Storm played game four of the tournament against the St. Catherine Warriors. This was a very important game as it would determine whether the Storm would get to play in the semi-finals. St. Catherine’s came out strong in the first period scoring two times. The Storm regrouped in the second period and came out to score two goals of their own. The first was a power play goal by Kristian Pelling assisted by Owen Stannard and KayCyn Hernandez. The second was also a power play goal, this time scored by Austin Marr and assisted by Declan Handley and Michael Connelly. Try as they might neither team could get it past the goalie and the game ended in a 2-2 tie, which was enough to get the Storm into the semi-finals! Goalies Scotti Beneteau and Connor Axford both played a great game sharing netminding duties, and Franco Shaften was selected the game MVP!
Saturday December 29 the Storm headed over to the Gretzky Centre for the semi-finals. As luck would have it the Storm once again had to face the hometown Brantford 99ers. As before, it became very apparent that our out of town team would be at a great disadvantage in this arena. With goalie Connor Axford in net the entire team came out and played their hardest, but with the deck stacked against them ended the game with a 3-0 loss. Kristian Pelling earned the MVP for this final game of the tournament, and all the players should be very proud of their efforts throughout this game and the entire tournament!
Even though the Peewee Minors didn’t make the finals a good time was had by all as we spent our Christmas break together. Special thanks to Coach Tim who entertained the parents and siblings into the wee hours at the Karaoke Bar in the hotel! Note: Next team fundraiser will be to raise the funds necessary to secure a vocal coach for Coach Tim :)
Congratulations on a great tournament Peewee Minors!!!