U15 LL Boys claim silver at New Tecumseth tournament

The Armstrong Motors U15 LL Boys captured the silver medal at the Lefroy Year-End Tournament in New Tecumseth Feb. 27 to March 1. Pictured in the front row, from left to right, are Jon McDonald, Jack Brockman, James Holliday, Ayden Eidt, Adam Nelson, Chase Hienrichs and Tyler McDonald. In the back row, from left, are Kyle McCutcheon, Jim Holliday, Ahmad Al Hadid, Gavin Terpstra, Alex Peachey, Jude Schlozhauer, Keegan Forrester, Cole McIntosh, Sawyer Votary, Derek Vernooy, Fin McCutcheon, Jonathan Buckland, Zach Zwambag and Dan McIntosh.

By Spencer Seymour

The Armstrong Motors U15 LL Boys St. Marys Rock returned home from the Lefroy Year-End Tournament in New Tecumseth Feb. 27 to March 1 with the silver medals.

According to head coach Jim Holliday, the team’s weekend reinforced the group’s belief in themselves.

“Overall, we cemented our belief that we are a strong hockey team and we can beat any team when we play together,” Holliday told the Independent. “We went through some extreme highs and lows with a loss in the round-robin and a statement win in the semi-finals. We learned that staying even keel and controlling the emotions around the high and low points can be a really powerful tool.”

The Rock narrowly edged out the Brock Wild for fourth place after the three-game round-robin, which saw St. Marys finish as one of four teams with two wins and one loss. This set up St. Marys to play the undefeated Douro Dukes (Riel) in the semi-final, from which the Rock emerged victorious, taking a 2-0 win to earn a spot in the gold-medal game.

Holliday called their semi-final win the team’s best game of the season.

“The semi-final game on Sunday morning was the best game we’ve played all year,” he said. “We went up against a very strong team from Douro, and we really controlled the play. We were backstopped by some excellent goaltending by Jack (Brockman) and ended up sealing the game on an empty net goal. Our players were thrilled to have toppled the best team from the round-robin.”

The scoring opened in the second period with Ayden Eidt banging in a rebound off a nice rush by Fin McCutcheon. Cole McIntosh scored an empty net goal in the final minute of the third to secure the 2-0 win.

Holliday described an intense determination before they took the ice as a precursor to the team’s excellent semi-final showing.

“I could tell in the dressing room before the game that the players were focused. On the ice, we combined a hardworking effort with a lot of smart play. We really supported the puck and had a lot of bodies back in our own zone. We kept the play in our end to the outside and didn’t give Douro a lot of scoring chances. If we play like that, not a lot of teams can beat us.”

Holliday said the team put a premium on playing strong defence in front of their netminders.

“We knew going in that all the games would be close. We really focused on our defensive play and making sure that we put the puck in smart spots to limit scoring chances from our opponents. Our goaltending is strong, so we knew that if we kept shots at length, we’d have good chances to score on the transition.

“This proved to be true as our first three games of the tournament were all decided by one goal,” continued Holliday. “Our defensemen do a nice job of taking away space, and when our forwards are supporting on the backcheck, we are really tough to play against.”

Holliday added there was no shortage of strong individual efforts from throughout the lineup.

“Across all five games of the tournament, there were strong performances turned in by a number of our players. Ahmad (Al Hadid) had a game-winning goal in our 1-0 win to start the tournament that brought us a lot of momentum and set us off on the right trajectory. Alex Peachey was a standout on defence all tournament long. He really used his size and speed to his advantage. He was rushing the puck out of our zone with ease, and he was able to shut down some of their bigger players.”

Unfortunately, the Rock fell in the finals to the Douro Dukes (Bass), but even though they came away with the second-place prize, Holliday noted the result could provide a spark for the rest of the high-pressure games on their schedule.

“We knew that we had a good tournament performance in us,” Holliday said. “We had made the semi-final in our two previous treatments and could not get over the hump. This weekend will bring us a lot of momentum as we continue on into the playoffs.”