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The Sarnia
Sting AA Minor Atom Team recently competed at the 41st
annual Wayne Gretzky Hockey Tournament. The Team
played 6 games over 3 days, and advanced to the
Finals of the Minor Atom division.
The Sting
opened the tournament against the Hometown hosts,
the Brantford 99’s, and after a see-saw battle that
had some great opportunities and some fantastic
goaltending, the Sting came out with a 1-1 Tie. A
tremendous effort saw Logan Tardif come out as the
game MVP for the Sting.
The Second
game saw the Sting take on the West London Hawks.
The Sting came out flying, adding goals quickly, and
padding themselves with a comfortable lead before
the Hawks made it interesting adding a marker late
to take away the shut out. Jason Caley was rocking,
with 2 helpers!
The Sting
handled this one with a 4-1 victory, and marched
onto their next game. Logan Tardif was once again
the team leader, taking the game MVP!
The sting
didn’t have a long time to rest, and saw themselves
again facing a London opponent, the North London
Nationals. The Nationals proved to be a worthy
opponent, and after trading goals in each period,
the Sting found themselves in another Tie, this Tie
meant the sting would have to play a qualifier to
advance to the final “medal” round. Game MVP for
this game was Cole Goossens. Super strong
goaltending held the team in this one.
The next
game was a barn-burner. The Sting had to wake up
early, and meet the St. Thomas Stars in a winner
takes all event. The Sting came out hard, but after
2 periods the teams were scoreless, and after the
third buzzer rang, it was tied at 1-1, and headed
off to overtime.
The
overtime kept all the fans on the edge of their
seats. The chances went end to end, and after a long
nail-biting period, Corey Smith went end to end and
put the winner in the net to help the team advance
to the Finals! Super strong goaltending to Nick
Steeves, and great Defense kept the Sting in this
game!
The final
match was all set up for the final day! The Sting
would play our arch nemesis Woodstock who is in our
AA loop. The game started on a low note, with the
Woodstock team taking a fast 1-0 lead, and after the
Navy Jets popped a second goal, the sting were in a
hole. Cole Goossens responded with 2 goals to bring
the sting close, but it was not meant to be. The
Navy Jets streaked down the side, and popped a top
shelf past Colby Ramsdale on a shot that Martin
Brodeur couldn’t have saved.
Game MVP
went to Brenden Bouterse, and Tournament Most
Sportsmanlike went to Nolan Rannie! The Sting took
home the Silver in a hard fought battle!
Great work
to the Sting Team for a great tournament, and a
fantastic chance to build for the remaining year
end!
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