Mooretown battled to the End

The Storm played their best hockey of the season, advancing to the finals of the Guelph Power Play Tournament.

Mooretown opened the tourney on Friday morning with a game vs Clarkson. It took a period for the Storm to find their legs before building a 4-2 lead early into the 3rd period only to let Clarkson back in the game and leaving with a 4-4 tie. Evan Musson was strong in goal for Mooretown. Jared Pageau did all the scoring  with four goals while Hayden MacDonald added 3 assists, Brandon Rondeau 2 assists and Keith Bogaert a single helper. 

In the second game Friday afternoon the Storm were up against the Pickering Panthers and the team was determined to put forth a much better effort. Mooretown rolled to a 9-3 victory with Evan Musson picking up the victory in goal. Jared Pageau helped lead the way with 5 goals and an assist. Bailey Smalls added 2 goals while Elijah Contreras and Hayden MacDonald each had a goal.  Rory Pickle added 2 assists, with Keith Boagaert, Contreras and Brandon Rondeau each getting an assist. This was a much better effort by Mooretown.

The Storm played their 3rd game Saturday afternoon vs the 7th ranked team in Ontario, the Owen Sound Attack. Mooretown needed a victory to move on to the semi's and anything less would send them packing. This game was by far the best game the team has played this season and also the most exciting.  Owen Sound opened the scoring 5 mins into period #1 before Jared Pageau tied it at the 6:56 mark and then Pageau gave Mooretown the lead 2-1 with his second of the period at the 5:43 mark. Owen Sound would tie it up with a minute remaining in the first as it ended 2-2 after one period. The Attack would regain the lead 3-2 before Elijah Contreras tied it at 6:39. Jared Pageau and Rory Pickle assisted. The score was deadlocked 3-3 entering the third period. Aaron Dobson would give Mooretown a 4-3 lead as he scored a nice goal on a great effort at 8:51 of the 3rd period. Owen Sound would not go away as they tied it a minute later. Jared Pageau would then score the game winner with a minute left on the clock. Brandon Rondeau assisted. Emma McCormick played an outstanding game between the pipes to help Mooretown to victory. With the win Mooretown moved to the semi finals and take on Cambridge.

In the semi finals Mooretown squared off with the Cambridge Hawks. Mooretown dominated the game from start to finish for a 4-2 victory. Mooretown had to kill off several penalties on some questionable calls. The worst call was a 5 minute boarding penalty that included a game ejection. The call was originally a 2 min roughing penalty but changed after someone from the executive motioned the ref to eject this player. A very poor call. The Mooretown penalty killing unit did not allow a single shot on goal during this 5 minute stretch. Jared Pageau with 3 and Elijah Contreras with 1 scored the Storm goals. Rory Pickle with 2, Nolan Gladwish and Justin Murphy had assists. Emma McCormick was sharp in net for the win. Now on to the finals.

The Storm would now face the Brantford 99ers in the championship game. Mooretown was without the services of a top defenseman due to a suspension from the previous game. This really strapped Mooretown as this would only give them 10 skaters and had to move a forward back to play D. Combining a short bench, a huge ice surface and a team that were playing their 6th game in 3 days and Mooretown was in tough. Brantford lead 2-1 after one period and Mooretown had kept it close at 3-2 before Brantford was put on a 5-3 PP and scored with 26 seconds left in the 2nd period for a 4-2 advantage after 2 periods. That last goal was the  nail in the coffin for Mooretown as they just ran out of gas. The kids never quit and played hard to the end but would succumb by a final score of 7-2. The final score was not indicative of the overall game as Mooretown was battling close for 2 periods. Jared Pageau scored both Storm goals with Drew Pepper adding an assist.  Emma McCormick and Evan Musson  shared goaltending duties and both played well.

The coaching staff is very proud with how hard the kids worked to the final whistle and how well they played the entire weekend. Parents should be proud of this squad as nobody thought they had a chance to win two games let alone advance to the finals. The kids showed tremendous heart and class.