Apr 14, 2009 | rgrubb | 702 views
Year-End Tournament
The end of March also marks the end of the regular season for hockey players and the Walkerton Capitals (Kinettes) midget B girls' hockey team were no exception. By the time of the WOAA year end playoff tournament March 27 to 29, the participants in the WOAA?s ever-growing league had wrapped up the 2008-09 season's make-up games and were poised to "leave it all out on the ice" for another year.
Competing in the intermediate division, the Walkerton (Kinette) midgets first took on the intermediates from Lucknow on March 27 at the arena in Ayton. In the 35 minutes of play the girls were able dominate play over Lucknow and refused to share the scoreboard. Starting things off in the first were Lauren Bell with the goal and Katrina Grubb and Janna Reading with assists. The 1-0 lead held tentative all through the remainder of the first and the entire second period, but the third period proved to be Walkerton?s chance to shine as they scored a total of four more. Goalie Alanna "AJ" Anstett remained solid between the pipes at the Walkerton end and did not allow a single marker. Scorers for Walkerton were Bell ? who snapped in two to give her the hat trick ? (one goal was unassisted, the other was assisted by Chantale Bourque; Becky Busby, assisted by Claire Ashton; and Jasmine Richardson who received help from Bell.
The second game of the tourney, the following day on the Mildmay-Carrick ice pad, saw the Capitals facing the Ripley Wolves intermediate squad and the Wolves brought their A game to the rink. Keeping one step ahead throughout, but with the Wolves constantly nipping at their heels, Walkerton was able to score in the first only to have that goal answered a few minutes later for the tie. Scoring at 5:33 for Walkerton was Colleen Parks assisted by Reading. Neither goalie shared space in their net in the second but by the third Walkerton?s Bell was able to ring one in for the 2-1 lead at 1:28 left in the game (assists went to Carolyn Hodgson and Kascha Fischer). But if the game was over at that point, the Zamboni would?ve been on the ice already. Ever-diligent, Ripley tied things up eight seconds later. The tie game was a beauty to watch and a high note for the Ripley Wolves to end their season as they did not advance out of their pool. Fortunately, however, the tie was enough for Walkerton to proceed to the finals the following day.
Sharing the spotlight in the gold medal game of the WOAA intermediate division was, not surprisingly, the contingent from Belmore. Sharing a close connection to each other, these two centres have battled it out all season long with wins falling on both sides, but love and family was left on the sidelines this day for this match-up as both teams battled for supremacy.
Fans were treated to an extremely evenly matched battle with fast and fierce end-to-end action with little stops for whistles or penalties. However, the short breather between the second and third was enough for Belmore to come out of the gate flyin? and a goal was hammered in at 13:25 by Brittany Heffer, assisted by Krystal Wyatt. But Coach Rich Grubb?s squad was not built on crying over spilt milk and the Capitals continued their barrage. A well-placed timeout for the Capitals with 25.7 seconds left proved time and the red and blue were rewarded as they sqeezed every second of opportunity out of the game and tied it up with a mere 3.8 seconds left on the clock. Bringing the last minute reprieve for Walkerton was Parks who received assistance from Richelle Busby and Katrina Grubb.
Forced into overtime, Walkerton and Belmore began the fourth period with four-on-four hockey. As the second ticked off the clock in the overtime period, the teams soaked it for all the suspense they could before Belmore's Becky Voison was able to snap one, unassisted, past her ex-teammate Anstett at 23.2.
The late goal made Belmore the WOAA intermediate champions for the 2008-09 season but the fierce competition only fueled the fire for the Walkerton Capitals (Kinettes) as they proceed to finish the entire season in the next few weeks. The girls have a big schedule in the next three weekends as they will be participating in the annual Hamilton Hawks tournament, finding Easter eggs and then searching for the Holy Grail of hockey at the 2008-09 OWHA Provincial Championships.