Jan 22, 2014 | rheywood | 908 views
Novice Girls are Tournament Champions!!
The Novice girls beat 2 undefeated teams enroute to win Gold in St. Catharines
The tournament began for Lucan Friday at 1:30pm against an undefeated Niagara Falls team on the big ice of the Seymour-Hannah complex in St. Catharines.
The girls looked determined in the room before the puck drop and they carried that attitude onto the playing surface, where they dominated most of the play to take an early lead. They never looked back and continued strong team play until the final buzzer and skated off with a 5-2 victory in the tourney opener.
After and eventful Friday night of team camaraderie it was back to the rink for a noon tilt against the hometown St. Catharines team. Once again the girls were energized with positive thoughts and team spirit as they took to the ice; chanting with intimidation. After a quick warm up it was game time. The game got off to an even pace early with each team trading chances, but it quickly opened up with a couple of breakaways for St. Kit's on the Lucan netminder Makenna D., but she stood her ground and kept her team in it early. Seems that it took a couple of chances to get the Irish in a game mood, as they turned it around with 3 unanswered goals and finished the game with a strong defensive effort to give their stopper a well deserved shutout and a 3-0 win.
Game three on Saturday afternoon was by far Lucan's toughest opponent when they faced Stoney Creek. The Sabres were undefeated coming into St. Catharines and had some serious tournament numbers on the board, but the Irish were determined to show what they were made of and pumped each other up in the dressing room. As their fearless Mascot(Sandy) shared centre ice with a Minion during the warm up, the team mentally prepared for battle. The strategy was simple, work hard, dig deep, keep the puck out of their end and play from the neutral zone north, and the girls executed flawlessly. Lucan carried the play and once again defence was the difference, and defence came from all 5 skaters on the ice each and every shift, shutting down their opponent. After 60 minutes the Irish had finished their day with a second straight win and you couldn't knock the smile off the faces of the players, bench staff and fans! Sunday finals were in their sights!
After a strict curfew Saturday night for the girls and some of the fans(wink-wink), it was back to the rink for an early Sunday morning contest against divisional opponents Zorra in the semi-finals. Both small town squads came out enthusiastic and ready to play their style of hockey. It took one period before someone opened the scoring and it was the Irish out to a 1-0 lead to silence the opposing fans. Zorra kept the pressure on and kept coming with a couple of strong scoring chances before Lucan netted their second of the match late in the game to go up by 2. The Oxford County opponents were not going home easy and they played hard until the final horn sounded, buzzing the Irish net, while 200' away their net was empty with the extra attacker on, but Lucan was able to keep them at bay and go to the dressing room with a 2-0 victory and a chance to win Gold.
The Finals - 2:30pm
After a short 2 hour reprieve from the rink the undefeated Irish started to assemble in the corridors, sporting their shamrock necklaces and game faces. Leaside was the successful team on the other side of the ladder and they also had their eyes on championship gold, and it would be a matter of who had more gas in their tank after a long, hard skating tournament.
On this day however after 60 minutes Lucan proved to be the team to beat, continuing to play their game and frustrate opponents. They stood proudly on their blueline after a 3-0 win to receive well deserved Gold Medals!
Makenna D. was named tournament MVP for the Irish with her strong play and 3 shutouts, but make no mistake this Championship was the result of a total team effort. Every skater left their heart and soul on the ice each shift they took and there were no individuals on this Irish team. From their passing, backchecking, celebrating and bench chatter it was clear, they were here as a team and they won as a team!!!
Incredible Team effort girls and you should be very proud of yourselves!!