Walter Gretzky House League Tournament Champions, News, Atom, 2015-2016 (Point Edward Minor Athletic Association)

This Team is part of the 2015-2016 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Jan 26, 2016 | lguthrie | 2105 views
Walter Gretzky House League Tournament Champions
Congratulations to the Point Edward Blackhawks Atom Hockey Team on their Tournament win at the Walter Gretzky House League Hockey Tournament January 8-10, 2016.

This tournament was a lot of fun for the team and a big confidence booster winning 6 straight games to clinch the championship! Our first game was a tight defensive battle against a very good Barrie Black Stallions team who fought us right to the end with exceptional goaltending. The Blackhawks came away with a 4-3 victory highlighted by player of the game Brendan Barill who was a rock on defence making some timely plays in the dying minutes to preserve the win. Game two was a matchup against the Thorton Tigers. After a slow start to the first period the Blackhawks took over pushed the pace with player of the game Ben Crombeen driving to the net leading an offensive charge that resulted in a convincing 6-1 victory. Game 3 was the battle of the 402 with the Blackhawks facing off against the London Bandits. After another slow start to the first period the Blackhawks began to push the pace led by player of the game Nathan Shortreed who was a force all over the ice and created lots of room for line mate Nolan Mumford to record numerous goals resulting in a 7-1 thumping of the bandits. An early Sunday morning Semi Final game saw the Blackhawks pitted against the Sault St. Marie Legion with whom we shared a hotel where the two teams had already exchanged pleasantries in a spirited mini sticks contest. It was evident from the drop of the puck that this game was going to be a battle. The Blackhawks managed to build a 4-0 lead after two periods of play. The 3rd period saw the Soo come on strong battling right to the end however they were no match for player of the game Matt Clathworthy who stood tall between the pipes backstopping the Blackhawks to a huge 4-2 victory and a chance to play for the championship. The championship game was expected to be a defensive battle with the Blackhawks facing off against another hockey club with very few goals against, the Kitchener AtoMC Yellow team. From the moment the puck dropped the Blackhawks took control with center Nick Hocking setting up some big plays to get the offence clicking and the Blackhawks overwhelmed the Kitchener goaltender with shot after shot. Defencemen Noah Roy was named player of the game for his outstanding two way play making heads up plays in the defensive zone and keeping the puck deep in the offensive zone helping the Blackhawks control the puck from start to finish. What was supposed to be a defensive battle turned out to be a dominant 11-1 victory for the Blackhawks and the honour of having their team picture taken as champions with Walter Gretzky! Our team is working hard this year and we hope to keep it up with playoffs just around the corner.