The Walkerton Capitals would participate in their firs
tournament of the year on Saturday, February 18, 2017 in Southampton. The Southport Atom LL Tournament would
feature 8 teams from as far away as the Niagara Region.
The first game for Walkerton would be against the BCH Ice Dogs. While the game started off slow Walkerton would continue to fire pucks as the Ice Dogs net and would score at 6:53 when Carson Baglole beat the BCH goalie with a rising wrist shot. As period was in its final 30 seconds Travis Goll would score to put Walkerton ahead by a score of 2-0.
Walkerton would come out firing in the second and score when Wes Hunt took a pass from Owen Young and slid the puck past the goalie. The Ice Dogs would make several valiant scoring attempts but Talan Hope stood tall in the Walkerton net.
There would be no scoring in the third period and the Capitals would go on to win 3-0.
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Walkerton would then play the West Lincoln Wrath in Game 2. The two teams would battle with the winner going onto the Championship game that evening.
The Capitals came out with an extra jump in their game and were able to get on the score board just 2 ½ minutes into the period when Carson Baglole scored on a hard wrist shot. At the end of the first period Walkerton lead 1-0.
The teams would continue to battle in a highly competitive second period. Travis Goll would score at 5:51 and Colby Schmidt with 3:17 remaining to give Walkerton a 3-0 lead. West Lincoln would score just under 2 minutes left in the period to narrow the gap but Walkerton lead 3-1 after 20 minutes.
The third period began with the Wrath continuing to pressure Walkerton in its own end. The Walkerton defenders would force play to the outside and along the boards and any shots that did make it to the net were steered out of harms way. The Capitals would score just over half way through the period when Travis Goll scored his second of the game. With the win the Capitals secured their place in the Championship game.
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The Championship game would have the Walkerton Capitals playing the Kincardine Kinucks and what a game it would be. Fantastic skating, precision passing and spectacular goal tending this game had it all and so much more.
Walkerton would start the game quickly by making a rush into the Kinucks zone and unleashing a hard wrist shot that the goalie snagged with his glove. The Capitals would continue to fire pucks at the Kincardine net as Walkerton was relentless in keeping the puck in the Kincardine zone. Kincardine would run into penalty troubles and Walkerton would pepper the puck at the Kincardine net. The young Kincardine net-minder was like a wall and nothing was getting past him. Kincardine had several scoring chances of their own and our own Talan Hope was up to the task making several key saves of his own. The period would come to a conclusion with neither team being able to score.
The second period was again more of the same, both teams would have scoring opportunities but the goalies would have none of it. Walkerton goalie Talan would make several impressive saves late in the period while the Capitals offence did everything they could to have the puck to cross the goal line to no avail.
As the third period started the two teams were still lock in a scoreless battle. The puck would go form one end of the rink to the other, the players in quick pursuit. As time was winding down Kincardine would break the stale mate when a shot would slid past the Walkerton goalie and into the net with 2:24 remaining. The Capitals down but not out would tie the game with just over 1 minute remaining when during a goal mouth scramble Mason Lina was able to poke the puck over the line. As the period ended the boys were going to overtime.
The 3 on 3 overtime was again end to end action. Each team would take a penalty which would allow the other to go 4 on 3 and while scoring chances were available neither team was able to capitalize. Overtime ended and the teams were still locked in a tie.
The game was going to a shot out. Each team would have three shooters go 1 on 1 with the goalie. Walkerton’s first shooter, Carson Baglole would fire a wrist shot that beat the goalie blocker side but not the goal post. Kincardine’s first shooter would also ring his attempt off the goal post. Jack Walter would be the second shooter for Walkerton and his shot would go off the goalie’s blocker and bounce into the corner. The second Kincardine shot was stopped by the glove hand of Talan Hope. Walkerton’s Travis Goll would be the next shooter and his wrist shot low glove side would find the back of the net. A silence fell over the crowd watching as the Kincardine player skated down in his attempt to keep the shot out going. As he fired his shot a cheer erupted from the Walkerton fans as Talan made yet another key save. The bench emptied as sticks and gloves littered the Walkerton zone as the players mobbed around in celebration.
The boys improved with each game as the tournament went on. The celebration as the boys were presented their metals on the ice continued on into the dressing room.