U12AAA Barrie Pee Wee Challenge, News, U12 AAA Soo Jr. Greyhounds, U13, 2023-2024 (Sault Major Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2023-2024 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Oct 27, 2023 | James Neufeld | 207 views
U12AAA Barrie Pee Wee Challenge
The Barrie Pee Wee Challenge was hosted in Barrie, Ontario, this past weekend, Oct 20-22.

The Soo Jr. Greyhounds U12 AAA (“Hounds”) have been practicing and preparing for a big weekend of games and this was certainly the case.

 

In Game 1, the Hounds took on the Sarnia Jr. Sting U12AAA. In an extremely hard-fought game, with considerable back-and-forth action, the Hounds lost 3-2. The Hounds jumped out to a 1-0 lead but gave up the next three (3) goals to the highly ranked Sting. The Hounds had several particularly good chances, including shots that hit the crossbar, inside post and breakaways stopped by the Sting goalie. The Hounds pushed the score to 3-2 and worked valiantly for the equalizer before losing 3-2.


Game 2 saw the Hounds needing to get in the win to keep their hopes alive of making the playoff round, where only the top 6 teams advance to play Sunday. Thankfully, that afternoon, in a short turnaround after Game 1, the Hounds were able to defeat the Waterloo Wolves in a gritty 1-0 win.

 

Game 3 on Saturday morning, the Hounds faced another highly competitive team in the Halton Hurricanes. The Hounds were looking to avenge last year’s loss to Halton. One year later, the Hounds were able to control the play most of the game, coming away with a 2-1 win. Goaltending was the story, particularly in the final few minutes of the 3rd period when the Hounds were down 6-4 as Halton pressed relentlessly for the equalizer but did not convert.

 

Game 4 against the Guelph Gryphons was a simple concept to understand, “win and move on”. Another gritty performance from the Hounds resulted in a 5-3 win as the Hounds led 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, and 4-3 before finally netting the insurance goal late in the 3rd.

 

After Game 4, the Hounds thought that they were merely awaiting the quarterfinal seeding and their quarterfinal matchup. However, in a dramatic twist of events, the Hounds, with 3 wins and 1 loss, were able to secure a bye and an automatic semifinal spot given their goals for and against percentage.

 

In the semifinal sudden death round, the Hounds were matched up again with the Sarnia Jr. Sting U12AAA. The Hounds were excited at the chance of avenging their Game 1 loss and were able to do so, in a dramatic and nail-biting fashion. The semifinal matchup started with the Hounds taking a 1-0 lead like they did in the round robin game against Sarnia. This time however, the Hounds built that lead to 2 to 1. Sarnia came roaring back to go up 3-2 in the 3rd period and the time was ticking away. The Hounds never lost faith and maintained their resiliency and effort level. That character showed when the Hounds were able to net the equalizer in dramatic fashion with about three (3) minutes left in the game. Overtime brought with it 3 on 3 hockey, meaning a lot of open ice. The Hounds completely swarmed Sarnia in the overtime period but could not convert. After 10 minutes of 3 on 3 overtime, the game went to a shootout. The Hounds goalie made two spectacular saves out of the three shootout tries and the Hounds were able to convert two (2) goals, thereby winning 4-3 and punching their ticket through to the finals against the powerful and undefeated Barrie Colts.

 

The Championship game was played barely a 1.5 hrs after the semifinal game and the Hounds tried to muster up a second effort against a deep and talented Barrie team. The Hounds were unable to get the win, losing the final game 4 to 0.

 

Kudos to the players on their strong weekend of games and thank you to the staff for a successful weekend.

 
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