The Walkerton Capitals would play in a weekend tournament in
Lefroy, Ontario over the March 1st-3rd weekend. The tournament would feature teams from
across the province and only the top four teams would move onto the playoff
round.
Walkerton would start its games versing the Sudbury Sharks
in its first game and would come away with a convincing 7-1 victory. The second game would see the Capitals face
another northern team as they would come up against the Temiskaming Shores Puck
Hounds. The Capitals would trail early
in the game but would battle back and shut down the opposition’s opportunities. Walkerton would go onto win 4-1 and move to
the top of the tournament standings. The
final round robin game would see the Capitals face off against the Cayuga Stars. The two teams would battle from the opening
faceoff right up to the final buzzer. It
would be the Capitals, however, with a 5-4 victory and thus secure themselves a
spot in the semi-finals.
The semi-final game would see Walkerton play the Oakridge Aeros
from London. The boys would be moving
the puck well and some timely scoring the Capitals would punch their ticket to
the championship game with a 4-0 victory.
The championship game would see the top two teams from the round
robin faceoff against each other. The New
Hamburg Huskies and the Walkerton Capitals would play an exciting fast paced
game. Walkerton’s Marshall Odell would
score in the opening minute after his shot deflected off a couple of defenders
and into the net. Try as they might
neither team would be able to score again as the game continued. The action was non-stop and each side would
hit crossbars and goalposts but that is as close as they would come as the two
goaltenders put on a clinic with outstanding saves. The Capitals would win 1-0 and celebrate the
victory with the championship cup and metals on the ice.
A great weekend of hockey.
The boys battled hard in each game, complemented by solid goaltending,
great puck movement with strong crisp passing, and backchecking that was second
to none to help limit scoring chances by the opposing teams.