Feb 07, 2011 | nthompson | 1794 views
Bantam Girls Win Gold at BADGHA Tournament
The Blyth-Brussels Bantam girls travelled to Aylmer on the weekend to participte in the 12th annual BADGHA hockey tournament. The team is comprised of players from Blyth, Brussels, and Wingham. The team returned home Sunday night with the gold medal. Congratulations girls on an exciting weekend!
Game one of the tournament saw the girls face a familiar team from Normanby. The Blyth-Brussels team won 5-0. Mackenzie MacGavin opened the scoring two minutes into the game with the assist going to Mackenzie Nesbitt. The girls opened it up in the second period with four unanswered goals. Ashley Higgins scored assisted by Mackenzie MacGavin. Jadyn Murray than put it in the back of the net assisted by Ashley Higgins. Twenty-five seconds later Mackenzie MacGavin netted her second goal of the game assisted by Mackenzie Nesbitt and Jadyn Murray. With less than a minute in the game Mackenzie Nesbitt scored assisted by Makenzie MacGavin and Taylor Higgins. Lindsay Shiell received the shutout.
Game two was played Friday afternoon against the East Lambton Eagles. The Blyth-Brussels girls came away with a 1-0 win. This was a very intense, evenly matched game with no score after the first period. With two minutes remaining in the second period Shelby Hinschberger netted what proved to be the winning goal with assists from Ashley Higgins and Jessica Thompson. Sydney TeRaa recorded the shutout.
The final game of the round robin play saw Blyth-Brussels play the Lucan Irish on Saturday afternoon. This was another edge-of-your-seat, nail biter game. Lucan opened up the scoring two minutes into the game with a goal by Ali Loyens assisted by Jackie Vandenhoff. Blyth-Brussels tied it up early in the second period with a goal by Ashley Higgins assisted by Ashely Delapena and Jessica Thompson. Taylor Higgins scored an unassisted goal to end the second period 2-1. Lucan fired back early in the third period with an unasssited goal by Jackie Vandenhoff to tie the game at 2. Some excellent plays and defensive goaltending by Lindsay Shiell ensured the game ended in a tie.
With two wins and a tie the Blyth-Brussels girls came out in first place in Pool B. They went on to the semi final game to face the second place Kent County Fillies from Pool A. Well rested, the girls hit the ice Sunday afternoon determined to go all the way. Kent County must have had the same idea as they netted their first goal seventeen seconds into the game. Kristy Hawthorne scored assisted by Lindsay Welch and Olivia Henry. Before the period ended Ashley Higgins tied it up with the assist going to Ashley Delapena. Strong goaltending by Sydney TeRaa and Tori Winters kept the second and third period scoreless. This put us into a five minute sudden death overtime period. With a man advantage the girls were encouraged to hit the net quickly. Ashley Higgins did just that as she scored the game winner six seconds into the period unassisted. It was on to the final game at 5:00 pm.
The final game saw the Blyth-Brussels team face off against the East Lambton Eagles for a second time. These two evenly matched teams kept the game scoreless through two periods. A minute and a half into the third period Mackenzie Nesbitt scored the only goal of the game assisted by Mackenzie MacGavin. The girls fought hard to preserve the win. Lindsay Shiell played strong between the pipes.
It was an exciting weekend of hockey. The girls played strong, intense hockey and were rewarded. The fans were on the edge of their seats at each game. We would like to thank the coaching staff for organizing this tournament. It was a great team building exercise for everyone. This tournament will prepare the girls for the upcoming Provincial Playdowns beginning this month.