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.