Lucas Punkari
Despite the fact the local M.E.C. Bulldogs Atom ‘A’ hockey team was blanked 3-0 by the VP Bearcats (Thunder Bay) in the ‘A’ final of their annual home tournament Sunday, head coach Les Kaun was quick to cite the positives.
“Finishing second out of 12 teams in a tournament is a great thing, and this matches our best showing this year, as well, at a tournament in Dryden,” he enthused.
“A lot of the [younger] players played exceptionally well during the weekend and our goalie, Carter Hayward, is playing in net for the very first time this year, and he has been phenomenal for us.
“All of those little things help, especially with how we played this weekend,” Kaun added.
After finishing round-robin play in first place in Pool ‘B’ with a 2-1 record, then dispatching the Elks B.E.A.R. Kings (Thunder Bay) 4-2 in the semi-finals Sunday morning, the Bulldogs returned to the ice that afternoon trying to take the title away from the Bearcats, who had been unbeaten up to that point.
The final was a very
tightly-contested affair, with neither team giving each other an inch until blueliner Dayna Doucet rushed up the ice and made her way around a couple of Bulldogs before firing a wrister into the top of the net.
Forwards Josh Zgrych and Cayden Smith later scored to give the Bearcats the title.
“We’re not really a goal-scoring team,” explained Bearcats’ coach Joe Gaudreau.
“Our team is more of a team that will just grind it out and keep things simple,” he noted. “And when the other team makes a mistake, we will try to capitalize on it.
“This is a team that doesn’t have a single star player on it, and it was a total team effort that allowed us to win today,” Gaudreau added.
If there was one player who could be looked upon as a key contributor to the Bearcats’ win, it was that of 10-year-old goalie Nathan Andrews, who made save after save to frustrate the Bulldogs.
“I thought it was a really good game and I’m really pumped about helping the team win,” smiled Andrews, who celebrated after the game by doing a pose similar to that of Denver Broncos’ quarterback Tim Tebow.
“My defence helped me a lot by making good plays, and I made some good saves myself, along with some saves I didn’t really like,” he shrugged.
In other title action Sunday afternoon, the hometown Causeway Cougars nearly pulled off a dramatic comeback in the ‘B’ final, thanks to a pair of goals by Jacob Grinsell, only to fall short 3-2 to the North End Flames (Thunder Bay).
“The kids played well today and I’m very proud of how they played out there,” said Cougars’ coach Jason Allen.
“They did exactly what they were asked to do out there, but the other team was just a little better today,” he sighed.
Having jumped out to a 3-0 lead, the Flames waited out a few nervous moments in the late stages of the third period as the Cougars tried to tie things up.
But goalie Tyler Ceci stood tall between the pipes to give his team the win.
“He was phenomenal,” lauded Flames’ head coach Rob Tilson.
“He kept us in the game today, and he made some key saves at the right moments to shut them down,” Tilson added.
And in the ‘C’ final, the Kenora Blackhawks took a quick 3-0 lead and never looked back, doubling the International Falls Squirts 4-2.
“It’s a great way to finish off the weekend,” said Blackhawks’ coach Paul Hilhorst.
“The kids worked hard over the entire tournament,” he noted.
“And even though we had a couple of rough games in the round-robin, they bounced back nicely here in the last two games.”
Rounding out the local teams were the Gillons Sharks, who were eliminated by the Squirts 3-1 in the ‘C’ semi-finals.
