Jan 10, 2016 | Terry Walker | 736 views
Kyla Kowalik Memorial Tournament helps team grow stronger
Great weekend of hockey at the Kyla Kowalik Memorial Tournament. It was especially good to see some pucks go in for some of our goal scorers (shooters keep shooting). Our defense dug in to keep us in every game, and our goalies continued to shock opponents and leave them wondering how it's possible for any team to have not just one, but two awesome tenders of the twine. Overall, I think the team played our best hockey of the year gearing up to compete in a tough Group A in the second half.
It was nice to get an early win, especially following some tough games in the Cripps. Avery set the tone with a strong drive to the net, putting a patented rocket past Wilmot's goalie less than a minute into the game. The team was buzzing and Alex once again took advantage of time up front scoring a beauty. Less than a minute later, Aspen drove the puck down the left wall with confidence, threw a great shot on the net that caught the keeper's left shoulder, rolled over her back and trickled toward the net. Both Avery and Abby were on the spot to jump on the rebound with Avery burying the biscuit for her second of the game. Rebounds, rebounds, rebounds! Nicole decided that she wanted to join the party and carried the puck around a couple of defenders (warming up for best stick handler of the tournament competition) and finished with a perfect shot. Abby put one in off the top of the center bar (a little cheddar), but it went in and out so fast the refs missed it. Wilmot battled hard from then on, but the damage was done and solid team defense and the best goaltending in the division held them scoreless.
LaSalle didn't make the long trip looking for second. They came out with speed and a solid system. We battled to keep them off the game sheet until well into the second period. They scored a couple in the second and another early in the third. A couple were lucky (some may call them garbage), but they got to the front of the net and threw everything they could at the net - they all count. Avery got one in the third after working hard all game to bring us within two. We had a couple of great chances in tight (Sarah was "so close" following a beautiful feed from Nicole), but their goalie wasn't giving up second chances. It looked like we might get another one applying good pressure, but eventually they scored another to finish it off.
Our final round robin game against Aurora was do or die for both teams as we were knotted in the standings, each with a win and a loss. We came out of the gate better than we have all season. The first period was close with both teams exchanging chances. Aurora drew first blood with a good goal late in the period. I think that we outplayed them throughout the first - it was great to see some really good scoring chances early on. Their team definitely came to compete and their goalie seemed to be in the right place at the right time, especially the chance that Fionna had only a couple of feet from the goal on the left side getting a feed from Abby as she worked hard in Gretzky's office to hit Fionna on the tape. They got another one early in the second, but we did not buckle. We kept the pressure on getting chances and limiting theirs. I pulled Taylor with 2 minutes left and sprung Nicole as our extra attacker. We threw everything we could at them, but they dug in to weather the storm on hold off the attack to earn a spot in the semi's. Everyone gave their best, especially Cayla and Brittany who both fought through the pain of injury, with Cayla taking a hard fall late in the third as she battled relentless trying to keep us in the game. Best game of the year, definitely something to build on. Keep it going Blue, we could not be more proud of you.
Coach Terry