A Tournament Like No Other, News, U15 AAA JR GREYHOUNDS (Deluca), U15, 2021-2022 (Sault Major Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2021-2022 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Oct 19, 2021 | DNadon | 1333 views
A Tournament Like No Other
As the bus finally stopped for the last time at 4:00am Monday morning, the U15 AAA Soo Jr Greyhounds could finally rest after a long 7 game weekend.

The games began just 2 hours after the team checked into their hotel in Peterborough Thursday evening and it would be the beginning of a tournament like no other. For this tournament, the team would get fully dressed before leaving the hotel and wait 30 minutes on the bus at the arena before being able to enter the arena 10 minutes before the start of each game. The team would be split up once inside and the coaching staff would not be able to talk to the team as a whole, prior to them going on the ice, once they were inside the arena. They would also play 2 10-minute periods and 1–15-minute period with no flood in the round robin games unlike their league games that consist of 3 17-minute periods with a flood between each period. So, a quick start would be imperative to do well in this style of tournament.

As the boys always do, they came out surprisingly fast in game one, seeing that they just sat on a bus for 9 hours. They carried the game the entire way verses Kingston Jr Gaels but were unable to find the back of the net to equalize the game after a rebound goal saw the Jr Hounds trail by one.  With the goalie pulled in the last minute of the game, the boys were unable to pull the trigger and Kingston sealed the game with an empty net goal.

Game 2 against the Southern Tier Admirals was a replay of game 1 where the team had chances but could not put the puck across the goal line and a flip pass sent an Admiral player in on a breakaway and scored. The team tried to tie it up again late in the game with the net empty, but Southern Tier were able to control the puck and slide it into the empty net.

Game 3 versus the CIH Academy, the boys finally were able to come out on fire and score right away. The momentum kept on coming and were able to fill the net to grab a hold of second place in their division with a 7-1 victory with 1 game remaining in the round robin.

The last game of the round robin would be against Brantford 99ers, with a win or tie would secure their 2nd place position in the A pool. The boys were buzzing and had their chances all game but a screened PP goal in the second period was all Brantford needed and for the third time in the tournament, the Jr Hounds could not score and would lose 1-0 putting the Jr Hounds into the B Pool.

With some down time before their quarter final game against the Oakville Rangers, the Jr Hounds were able to clear their heads and rejuvenated over a few games of laser tag. This seemed to help bring the boys together and with extended game time (10-15-15 minute periods) for the elimination games, the Red and White dominated the play in the quarters and were able to move onto the semi finals with a strong 3-0 win over the Rangers.

With a late-night Quarter final game, the boys were up early ready and eager to fight for a victory in the semi finals verses the Clarington Toros. The extended time helped the boys fill net often in this game and rolled into the B Finals with a 7-1 win against the Toros.

Their 7th and final game of the Boston Pizza Icefest would see the boy’s face off against the Thunder Bay Kings. This was a fast back and forth game with the hounds leading 2-1 going into the third period. Thunder Bay came out on a mission and scored 2 quick goals in the final period and with some nice saves late in the game by the Kings would prevent the Hounds to tie the game. That would be enough to seal the fate for the Jr Hounds, and the Thunder Bay Kings would be the victors in a tight 3-2 win.

Overall, it was a great first tournament for the team with some highs and lows throughout the weekend. The U15 AAA Jr Greyhounds were able to play 7 different teams and will learn from those games to get better as they enter their regular season action in Chelmsford this upcoming weekend verses Nickle City Sons.

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