Feb 07, 2018 | Mark Robbins | 414 views
Dresden Tournament and 4th Playoff Game Report
Dresden was absolutely a fun and worth while ROAD TRIP that saw the Black Beast play some of their finest hockey yet!! We were fortunate enough to play the host team in the tournament's opening game and Noah Mooser started Quick! Right off the opening faceoff the line of Keaton Appeldorn, Danny Morningstar and Noah Mooser pushed the play deep into Dresden's end and Noah sent a backhand shot up and over the glove of the goalie to pop in the 1st goal 10 seconds into the game!! We were here to play some hockey!!
As the game played on our goalie James Robbins stood on his head time and time again to frustrate the opposition and thrill our legions of fans that made the trip to beautiful Dresden. The Beasts continued to roll and Connor Vandermeer steadied the puck and Bam shot the puck 5 hole to add to our lead. After that we played a defensive game with everyone chipping in to help our goalie preserve a shut out but with .4 seconds left Dresden finally beat James and spoiled his bid for our 1st shut out, but we did win our opening game and would face Petrolia next. On Saturday morning our quest continued and so did our excellent TEAM chemistry. This was a game that in the 1st period both teams played solid and the goalies held their own and it was 0-0 after 1. But the second period started just like our 1st game and Connor pushed the puck down the ice right off the face off blasting home our opening goal and that started the madness!! Little did we know that Connor was certainly not happy scoring just 1 goal as he popped home 2 more to complete his hat trick, well done!! Landon Williams also fed off of Connor's scoring and went in on his own break away to beat the goalie low and add to our lead. James would not be denied today and would backstop our team to our 1st shut out of the year 6-0, but that was a total team effort and all should be commended for it!! We ended up in 1st place after the round robin and would play in the semi finals on Sunday with a much needed bye. Even with the bye we would not be able to sleep in as we had to play our 4th Playoff Game at 8:00 am in Sarnia. The competition this day would be the Gold Team someone that we were familiar with and last played to a 2-1 loss. Again this game started with both teams battling back and forth until late in the 1st when Gold scored with 3:41 left in the 1st period. We played strong in the first with James kicking out some early attempts and Ryson Payne and Connor Vandermeer hustling back to break up a scoring opportunity. Greyson Levy also had an excellent wrap around attempt only to be denied. The second period would also be close as Landon Williams would lift the stick and steal the puck from an advancing Gold player. The second goal by the Gold team was a heart breaker as our goalie lost his glove but the refs did not stop play and in goes the puck. Gold added 2 more in the period and we lost some steam but rebounded in the 3rd. Danny Morningstar picked up the pace and went in for a break away attempt only to be stopped, James made a beautiful glove save and finally we cracked that egg as Ryson went in and put a shot high to record our only goal of the game. Once again we were not out played but had a couple calls and bounces not go our way 5-1 loss. Back to Dresden!! Semi final game and our opportunity to advance would be on the line. The 1st period showed that both teams deserved to be there but Dresden would score 1st. Our goalie once again would play beyond his years and keep us within striking distance but with highlight plays on both sides Dresden would add another goal to win the game 2-0 and stop us from advancing! This weekend we played the best hockey of the year with the entire team contributing on offense and defense, nice to see! My fingers are sore and I am sure some people would like me to end this report(lol) so I would like to say that I am very proud of how we played as a team this weekend and I truly enjoyed the experience and hope everyone else also did, and THANK YOU to all the Parents and others that took the time to bring the players to the tournament so they could have this opportunity!! See everyone Friday at 5:00 power skating. GO BEAST GO!!