Atom Girls/ Novice Girls - Walkerton Wins in St. Catharines
Submitted By
Dan Rourke on Sunday, January 29, 2012
The Knights of Columbus Atom Girls competed in the Second Annual St. Catharines Female Hockey House League Tournament January 20-22. During the three games played the much improved Capitals played their best hockey of the season. In their first game of the tournament Walkerton faced off against the Ayr Rockets. Victoria Shaidle was solid in net for the Capitals shutting out the Rockets for two periods. Alyssa Turbull broke the scoreless tie with a goal at the 2:35 mark of the third period to put Walkerton ahead 1-0. But the lead did not hold up as Ayr scored twice in the final 90 seconds, including the game winner with 16 seconds remaining.
The Girls rebounded well from the disappointing loss and came out on fire their second game. The result was their best offensive performance of the year. After a scoreless first period Walkerton's offence exploded for three goals. Lauren O'Hagan found the back of the net twice and Emma Fortney added a goal to give Walkerton a 3-0 lead. Fortney, O'Hagan and Turnbull also picked up assists in the period. In the third period it was more of the same as Mellisa and Megan Laird each found the back of the net and Keely Clarke had an assist. The final score was Walkerton 5, Clearview (Alliston, ON) 1.
In their final game of the tournament Walkerton pulled out a 1-1 tie against what seemed to be a superior Norfolk (Simcoe, ON) team. Coach Rod Fortney felt that "without question it was the girls' best performance of the year". Emma Fortney scored the lone goal for the Capitals with Turnbull getting the assist. Shaidle was stellar in between the pipes for Walkerton once again.
The tournament was a great confidence-builder for the team who will play their final regular season game on February 4 in Meaford before their year-end tournament on March 3.
Other members of the team are Nicole Schmidt, Megan Bell, Shannon Wagner, Sydney Kunkel, Courtney Fritz, Halle Rourke, and Madison Begon. Caption for attached picture: Atom Girls goalie, Victoria Shaidle makes a save for the Capitals. Shaidle has kept Walkerton in many games this season with her reliable goaltending.
