The Bulldogs played their first game of the tournament vs. Lucknow. It was a low scoring affair with several attempts at scoring by both teams. Blyth's, Kyle Pollard sent one into the Lucknow net on a pass from Trystan Weber to take a 1 goal lead midway in the second. That lone goal would be all that was scored in this game, as goalie, Dustin Treble, earned a shutout for his team. Blyth takes the game 1-0.
Blyth's second game would then be against a St. Mary's team. Blyth fell behind early in the first when a high shot beat our goalie. St. Mary's would then increase their lead to 2 by the end of the first. Blyth wouldn't get on the scoreboard again until Josh VanSoest would go upstairs with a high shot to beat the St. Mary's goaltender, with assists going to Daymien Brak and Curtis Raynard at the end of second. We went to intermission down by one.
The boys came out to play hard in the third, and had the game tied up just a minute in when Ryan Plunkett sent one into the net, with helpers credited to Brak and VanSoest. Just 2 minutes later the Bulldogs would take the lead as Dalton Richmond and Dylan Bromley would team up to tap one in on a goal mouth scramble. The remaining time in the third period was long and Blyth kept applying the pressure. Dustin Treble made several great saves to keep his team in the lead. Then with less than a minute to go, and St. Mary's applying the pressure with the extra attacker, Blyth's, VanSoest would break out of our end and seal the win with an empty netter, assists going to Raynard and Plunkett. Great game guys, you came from behind for a 4-2 win.
The win moves the Bulldog LL team into the semi-final game on Saturday morning (March 21) at 11:20 against the South Huron Sabres. Go Dogs Go!
The team pulled together a good morning victory over the South Huron team. South Huron scored first for their only goal of the game. Blyth would take 10 seconds to answer back with a goal of their own. Josh VanSoest and Curtis Raynard teamed up to score. VanSoest would then score his second of the game, unassisted, midway thru the second. Kyle Pollard would then score with an assist going to VanSoest to take a 3-1 lead into the third. Pollard would then score his second of the game in the third to complete the game scoring. Blyth takes the win with a 4-1 score and heads to the championship game.
Blyth would then take on the second St. Marys team for the championship. St. Marys would score first, just a minute later Blyth's, Josh VanSoest would score with help from Ryan Plunkett. The game would stay tied until midway thru the third when VanSoest would score again, with helpers going to Curtis Raynard and Dallas Coultes. St. Marys would then get another late in the third to tie the game. We were heading to overtime.
Just thirty seconds into overtime, and a couple of chances, Curtis Raynard with an assist from VanSoest would score the goal that would win the game for the Blyth Bulldog Local League team. Excellent goaltending by Dustin Treble kept us in the game and throughout the tournament.
The coaches are very proud of the hard work and determination that the team took to win at the Goderich Lion's 60th Young Canada Week Tournament. All team members earned this championship. The team consists of Dustin Treble, Trystan Weber, Dylan Bromley, Dallas Coultes, Kyle Pollard, Dalton Richmond, Robbie Gordon, Josh VanSoest, Daymien Brak, Brendan Hallahan, Curtis Raynard, and Ryan Plunkett.