Congratulations to all the Kitchener Lady
Rangers U18 “A’s” who spent the weekend in Windsor winning a well-deserved
Hocktoberfest 15 tournament Gold!
The Lady Rangers started things off Friday afternoon against Little Caesars Farmington Hills. A strong start in the first with many blocked shots (with ice to follow), led to an even better second. Some nice puck movements, including a “PP” goal provided the ladies with all the scoring they would need for their first two points of the tournament. The late Friday night game against the Belmont Blazers got off to a much slower start. Tied at “zero” after the first, it took until the middle of the second period for the ladies to finally get some traction. A second period goal along with several great shifts to end the period, had the ladies up by one heading into the third. Their strong play continued into the final fifteen minutes adding two more points to their tournament count. Picking up where they left off the evening before, the ladies came out strong against Honey Baked Gold. A couple of good scoring opportunities, several won battles and some “O-Zone” possession time, had the ladies up by one heading into the third. A nice “follow your shot to the net for a rebound” goal put the ladies up by “two” earning them another two game points. Heading into the late-afternoon game against the Brantford Ice Cats, the three wins had ensured a spot in Sunday afternoon’s final. Although not a bad game of hockey per say, the pace was a little slower, the coaching staff had made some line up adjustments, and the ladies would finish the round robin first in their pool with a “3-1” record.
With a “silver or gold” option in front of them, the ladies came out Sunday with only one color in mind. With several great scoring opportunities, great hustle, sustained pressure and a second period power play goal, the ladies drove the bus for most of the game's forty minutes. There were two brief moments in time (one in the first and one with seconds left in the third) that kept everyone on the edge of their seats (always nice to move the puck out of our zone if you can) but as the clock ticked down, gold would remain the color of choice in a well-earned and well-deserved final win.
James, Ken, Sarah, Tim, and I would like to thank all the ladies for their hard work and efforts this weekend. This was the first time this season that we have played with a full line up. We understand and appreciate everyone’s patience in settling in with your line and defensive pairings. Your determination, work ethic and many smart choices and options were evident throughout the tournament. We will continue to build on our current foundation but please know that we are pleased with everyone’s progress to date.
To the parents, thanks for your support and kind comments this weekend. Although we remain a work in progress, we hope you enjoyed the games and everyone’s efforts as much as we did.
Our thanks to Little Caesars (3-1), Belmont (3-0), Honey Baked (2-0), Brantford (0-2) and Chatham (1-0) for five well played games of hockey.