Dec 30, 2015 | Terri Patterson | 528 views
Bantam Rep Crusaders compete in Kincardine Silver Stick
The Howson Mills Crusader Bantam Rep team competed in Silver Stick over the Christmas holidays, and competed well.
The Crusaders opened the tournament against the Shallow Lake Lakers. The Crusaders played solid hockey and were only behind 1-0 after one period.
The second period the Crusaders found themselves in penalty trouble and the Lakers were able to capitalize, going ahead 5-0 after two.
At the beginning of the third period the Crusaders came out playing hard, with Bailey Bos scoring an unassisted goal to get home side on the board. Mason Weber scored the second Crusader goal with assists going to Jacob Roth and Mitch McNichol. Unfortunately the Lakers were able to score two more and the game ended 6-2 for Shallow Lake.
The second game of the day was against the Minto Mad Dogs. Penalty trouble cost the Crusaders again, and they found themselves down 2-0 half way through the first.
The Crusaders lost defenceman Mitch McNichol with a questionable decision on a penalty. The Crusaders had to kill off a five minute major. The team rallied for Mitch and put forth a strong penalty kill, so strong that Mason Weber, who has been on a mission for the Crusaders, scored an unassisted short handed goal to get the Crusaders on the board.
The Crusaders killed off the five minute penalty, then Weber was able to score again to tie the game at 2-2. Assists went to Jakob Gulutzen and Dakota Coultes.
Bailey Bos, who was pressed in to defence duty, put the Crusaders ahead in the third period. The line of Howson, Zwep and Johnson played hard and pressured the Minto defence, this allowed Bos to score the go ahead goal. Assists went to Zwep and Howson.
The lead was short lived as Minto was able to tie the game up on a laser of a shot from their team Captain. With 8 minutes to go both teams battled hard, but the game ended in a 3-3 tie. Mason Weber is applauded for throwing his body in front of pucks to block shots to help preserve the tie.
The third game was the first game of the day at Silver Stick. The Crusaders had to win by a score of 4-0, and have Shallow Lake beat Minto, for the Crusaders to have a chance to continue on.
The boys came out a unorganized, probably from having to get up so early, but were able to keep the Arran-Elderslie Ice Dogs chained up, and the first period ended up 0-0.
The Crusaders started the second period on a power play. The defensive tandem of Bailey Bos and Ryan Jacklin were able to keep the puck moving in the Ice Dog end, and this allowed Mason Weber to open the scoring. Bos and Jacklin had assists.
Ryan Jacklin scored the second goal unassisted. The Ice Dogs tried to gain the Crusader zone, but Jacklin intercepted the puck, skated in to the Ice Dog zone, and unleashed a wicked shot that fooled the Ice Dog goalie.
The Ice Dogs were unable to get many quality shots on the Crusader net due to the great defensive work. Alex Coultes and Dakota Coultes were steady and reliable, frustrating the Ice Dog skaters and the second period ended with the Crusaders up 2-0.
The third period started quickly and Weber picked up his second goal of the game with an unassisted goal.
The Crusaders ran in to some penalty trouble, but reliable penalty killing from Tanner Boven, Jakob Gulutzen, and the defence, kept the Ice Dogs off the ice.
Mason Weber, with his third goal of the game, was able to drive the nail in to the Ice Dog coffin by scoring his third goal of the game, with assists to Bailey Bos and Ryan Jacklin. The game ended with a 4-0 win for the Crusaders, goalie Spencer Lazarevich picked up the shutout.
The Crusaders were not able to move on as Minto defeated the Shallow Lake team.
Its hard to mention every player on the team, but every player gave it their best, doing what they needed to do to keep the Ice Dogs off the score sheet and put them in a position to move on. Well done boys!