Walkerton Capitals Midget Rep Girls come home Champs after winning Sarnia Silver Stick Tournament
by Paul Nixon
The Walkerton Capitals Kinettes Midget Rep Girls claimed the 15th Annual Sarnia Silver Tournament over weekend. They earned the gold medal after six gruelling games and defeated West Huron 3-0 in the final.
The Capitals got off to a rocky start on Friday, February
1st versus Brampton and came out on the short end losing 2-1. Brampton carried a 2-0 lead late into the
third period before Leah Kittel backhanded a shot home from Julie Thomson to
narrow the score to 2-1 with less than five minutes left. Brampton hung on and left with the win.
The girls were back in action late Friday night against
Michigan and welcomed our American neighbours to Canada with a good old
Canadian thrashing winning easily 7-0.
Thomson led the scoring barrage with a hat-trick with Kittel, Melynda
McKenzie, Missy Adams, and Trudy Young adding singles. Thomson (2), Kittel, Joelle Busby, Alyssa
Becker, and Adams earned assists on the goals.
This game was never in doubt as the Capitals steam rolled Michigan and
never allowed one shot on goal.
On Saturday, February 2nd, the Capitals entertained another
American foe, this time Chicago, and again showed no Canadian hospitality hammering
Chicago 5-0. This game was over in the
first five minutes as the Capitals pounded in three straight goals and added
two more in the second to coast to the 5-0 victory. Adams led the scoring with two goals, with Destiny Berberich,
Busby, and Kittel rounded out the scoring.
Rebecca Rier (2), Thomson (2), Becker, Busby, and Janelle Weber chipped
in with assists. The only excitement in
this game was in the stands when a vocal Capitals fan pointed out to the
referee a flaw in his officiating and offered him a compliment. Apparently
compliments are frowned upon as an OWHA Official expressed her
displeasure.
The Capitals found themselves in the quarter-final game on
Saturday night against a familiar opponent in the Kitchener Lady Rangers. While this game was worth the entire weekend
as the girls won 3-2 in thrilling fashion and sent the Lady Rangers packing in
the process. This game was sweet
revenge for the girls as they lost in overtime a heart breaker in the Guelph
Tournament to the Lady Rangers 3-2. The
Lady Rangers opened the scoring late in the first to take a 1-0 lead. That lead was short lived when Trudy Young
banged home a rebound early in the second to tie it 1-1. Hayley Fischer and Ashton Nixon assisted on
the goal. Christy Fleming of the Lady
Rangers scored her second of the game midway through the third period to give
them a 2-1 lead. The Capitals responded
with the tying goal with less than five minutes left in the third period when
Thomson slid one home after a nice feed from Busby and Kittel. With a face-off in the Lady Rangers end,
Adams won the draw and got a shot to the net, Berberich was on the door step
and slammed in the rebound to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead with 1:12 left in the
third. The Capitals played solid defence
as the Lady Rangers generated a couple of chances but were unsuccessful. The Lady Rangers left licking their wounds
as the Capitals “waved” bye bye to their players and fans. The game was played at a high tempo from
start to finish and there was more hitting in this game then in most NHL games
and surprisingly only one penalty, which the Capitals got.
With the win the Capitals gained a berth in the semi final
game on Sunday, February 3rd at a grand time of 7:15 a.m., against West
Northumberland. Not sure where the
girls found the energy that early, but they came out flying and buried four
goals in the first five minutes before their opposition woke up and cruised to
a 6-0 victory. Thomson paced the
scoring with two goals, and Weber, Busby, Berberich, and Adams rounded out the
scoring. Kittel (2), Lauren McLean,
Fischer, Nixon, Adams, and Busby added assists. This game was another total domination by the Capitals and all
West North Cumberland could cheer for was when they took cheap shots on the
girls. Thankfully none of the girls were injured.
The Capitals entered the final against a thorn in their
sides from league play, West Huron. The
Capitals battled West Huron in the Barrie Tournament and won that game 1-0 in
overtime. This game was over in the
first five minutes of the first as the Capitals scored three unanswered goals
and claimed the Championship 3-0.
Kittel was the offensive star of this game with two goals and one
assist. Kittel opened the scoring 47
seconds into the first on a break away with a shot to the blocker side. Kittel notched her second less than two
minutes later on a partial break away.
The puck was rolling on her and she fired a shot along the pond that
went through the five hole on West Huron’s goalie, Kimberly Hendrick. Berberich completed the scoring with a hard
backhand along the ice and through the wickets again on Hendrick. That was all the Capitals needed and they
simply put on a clinic and completely shut West Huron down when they did try to
mount any sort of an attack.
The girls earned the the 3-0 victory and left Sarnia as the
Champions of the 15th Silver Stick “BB” Tournament!
After losing the first game to Brampton (which they
outplayed Brampton), the Capitals ramped it up and were simply unstoppable. They out scored their opposition 25-4 over
six games which is impressive. Alyssa
Inglis was a rock in goal all weekend giving up only four goals in six games,
and picking up four shut-outs along the way.
In the end, the total team effort was there from each line and the
defence was flawless. With this team
it’s like a light goes off at a tournament and they play at a whole different
level. Excellent weekend girls and you
all deserved the Championship and were without a doubt the class of the tournament!
The Capitals start Lower Lakes Playoffs this weekend and
travel to Kent County (Dresden) on Saturday, February 9th at 4:45 p.m. This will be a 2 out of 3 series with game
two in Walkerton on Saturday, February 16th at 2:00 p.m., and game 3 if necessary
will be in Walkerton on Sunday, February 17th.
Dates and times for Provincial Play downs have not been set yet.