Feb 15, 2011 | phauck | 699 views
CHEERS TO THE CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!
A well deserved "beer" for the boys! One for the record books as outstanding performance by Cuneo's Atom LL boys produces tournament gold in Paisley!
After suffrering from what seemed to be a case of the mid-season blues (made famous by the Leafs!)
our boys seemed to pick up where they left off at the start of the season.
Gearing up for playoffs the team faced a true test in exhibition games with both, hometown rivals Walkerton Collision Atom LL 1 and Listowel Cyclones Atom LL.
In the first of the two testers, the boys triumphed over the hometown hostiles in a see-saw battle. Seeing our boys to a 6 - 4 victory. Our boys put a together a truly solid two way performance. Not to be bested by his schoolyard buds Ryan "Air" Lair manned the pipes and proved to be a juggernaut when tested. With strong positional play at both ends and multiple assists on all markers,
Assists were a plenty for the guys as the passing game finally found it's way. Helpers going to Andrew, Benny, Cole, Jayden ,Nate, Brett (2), Willy (3), and Chase (2). All guns were firing in this one, with goals coming from Benny, Cole, Jayden, Brett and 2 goal night for Chase.
The second of the two tilts brought an unseen combatant in Listowel to our barn. Yet again the boys didn't disapoint. Solid net minding from Benny Schmidt and intense defensive play from Noah, Cole, Mike and Austin proved stifling. In a thrilling come from behind surge from the boys, and a diving highlight reel rebound goal from Chase, they tied it up finishing the game 1 -1 and had seemingly found what was missing from the mid-season. .........TEAMWORK!!!! against the strong opposing Cyclones. With playoffs looming, this would prove to be a sign of big things to come.
With little notice and no more then a text message, the boys were set to take on Kincardine in their first of 10 playoff games to determine a round robin winner to play for "THE CUP." A frantic pace put up by both sides in a defensive chess match, ended up in an overtime thriller which concluded in a goaltenders showdown and a 0 - 0 stalemate! CRAZY!!!
With little time to settle our fans and dry out our gear, we set out on what would be our finest feat to date.
Braving the weather, facing an imposing tournament schedule and a depleted roster, missing key guys in Steve, Ryan and bench boss Pauly, we all set off to Paisley to an early morning start and a tough opponent in a top ranked Minto team.
Unbeatable goal tending by Chase and solid defense from a newly formed back line of Austin, Mike, Cole and Noah seemed to stifle the opposition in the first. After minto finally jammed one past the line in the second, Brett (and the bacon!) banged his own home on a great set up from Willy and Nate. Still rolling from the last marker, in furious end to end action and great chances at both ends, Brett (and the bacon) netted another on a great dig in the corner from Cole and a great set up by Benny.
Still Leading 2 - 1 late into the 3rd, penalty troubles left the boys shorthanded 5 on 3. with time winding down in the power play and the period. minto managed to jam home a rebound past a peppered Chase. frantic final minute chances at both ends left unfulfilled sent the game to a shootout.
Team captain Jayden started the show for Walkerton. With both teams getting stopped by the respective goalies on the first try, Cole went next, stepped in and made no mistake with Chase shutting the door yet again. With advantage Walkerton a confident coach sent sniper Willy in to finish the job. A big stop by the Minto tender left all eyes on Chase................... with one more roar from the crowd and a stamp on a games MVP preformance, Chase stopped the final shot and sealed an awestruck Minto teams tournament fate.
In the second game of the tournament, a do or die situation looming the boys faced off against another tough challenge in Saugeen Shores. Without hesitation the boys struck fast and didn't let up the pressure. Scoring only 12 seconds in Andrew burried on a perfect feed from Brett and Willy. The guys kept the pace providng a defensive wall from goaltender Chase and D-Men Austin, Mike, Cole and Noah and a furious pace by forwards Jayden, Brett, Willy, Andrew, Benny and BIG Nate.
Passing and positioning proved to be key as scoring came naturally in spite of tough opposition defense. Great passing netted points for Cole, Benny, Andrew, Nate, Austin (2), Daylan(2). goal scorers were Willy, Daylan Jayden (2) and a beauty from game MVP BIG Nate.
With the promise of victory beer and only 1 game left to go the boys had their sites set on tourney gold.
It didn't take long for the Schmidt boys to make their presence known. Accounting for the only 2 markers of the game Willy scored on a great single effort and passed one to big brother Benny out front to make it 2 - 0 late in the first. Pure determination and outstanding team play from all the boys led by captain Jayden in his game MVP performance and a perfect goal tending display from Chase, the boys skated to a shutout victory, and gold for the tourney!!!!!!!!
As both a coach and a fan I would like to let all the boys know that even though they may not have won an MVP award for a particular game they played, that you all deserved one for every game you played and you made myself, all your coaching staff and ALLyour fans very, very proud! WAY TO GO BOYS YOU ARE THE CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep it up fellas the cup awaits! ............................................and please for the love of the hockey gods, PLAY YOUR POSITION!
coach