Staff
Parting the Red Sea worked so well once for the Armstrong Crushers, they decided to play Moses twice.
Parker Sisco and Landen Hanson scored almost carbon-copy goals 1:40 apart late in the third period to carry the Crushers past the red-clad Fine Foods Fury 5-4 in the final of the Emo-Devlin-Barwick Minor Hockey Association’s Novice tournament Sunday at the Emo-La Vallee Arena.
Sisco went between defencemen Jakobe Smith and Duncan Hill, then froze Fury goalie Kota Wilson with a hesitation move before going blocker side with the puck for his second goal of the game with 4:11 to go to break a 3-3 tie.
Then with 1:31 left, Hanson stole the puck in his own zone, rocketed up the left boards, and then sliced through the gap between Gavin Hill and Aiden Loerzel before beating Wilson high to the glove side.
Racin Witherspoon shovelled the puck past Crushers’ goalie Keaton Cooper with 24 seconds left to make it a one-goal game.
Coach Chris Wielinga quickly called time-out to stop the running clock and design a play to get the tying goal.
But the Fury lost the face-off and never were able to get the puck back in the Crushers’ zone before time expired.
The Crushers trailed 1-0 on William Yerxa’s marker just 40 seconds into the game, but tied it less than four minutes later when Layton Hanson skated past every Fury player on the ice before putting a quick shot past Wilson.
Wilson later stopped Max Hanson on a breakaway, then made a diving stop and a glove save on two-straight shots by Landen Hanson, before Layton Hanson broke in and rang one off the left post.
Willem Kirk-Bertens put the Fury back in front with a shot from the right-wing boards that squeaked through Cooper just under five minutes into the second period.
Only 55 seconds later, Logan McCart fished a loose puck out of a maze of skates in front of the Crushers’ net and slid it home for a 3-1 lead.
But the Crushers battled back to score four-straight goals to capture the tourney crown.
The Crushers served notice early they were in the title hunt with a 16-0 rout of the Dryden Vipers in their opening game.
Layton Hanson led the way with seven goals while Landen Hanson added four.
Max Hanson and Sisco had two goals apiece, with Matthew Egan netting the other one.
Cooper earned the shutout.
The Crushers then kept their foot on the gas with an 11-1 drubbing of Kenora Home Hardware.
Landen Hanson put up another four-goal effort while Layton Hanson and Sisco each notched hat tricks.
Keifer DeGagne added the other marker.
Layton Hanson had another hat trick in a 6-0 shutout of the Fort Frances DC Giants, with Landen Hanson (two) and Sisco notching the other ones.
The Fury, meanwhile, was even more merciless in their first outing by bombing Kenora Strone 18-0.
Yerxa sparked the offensive onslaught with seven goals while Ziigwan Smith had four.
Gavin Hill and Noah Avis had two apiece, to go along with singles from Witherspoon, Kirk-Bertens, and McCart.
Smith added another four tallies in an 8-2 win over of Taggs Staggs (Kenora). Yerxa (two), McCart, and Avis had one each.
The Fury then downed the Atikokan Voyageurs 11-6.
Yerxa struck for four goals, with Avis (three), Witherspoon (two), Smith, and Loerzel rounding out the scorers.
As for the DC Giants, they outgunned the Dryden Nighthawks 7-5 in their opener.
Anthony Yerxa netted four goals, with Marlee Bliss adding two and Gage McKinnon one.
The Giants were a perfect “10” in their second game–as in a 10-0 win over AYA Builders (Kenora).
Tarran Enge led the way with five goals, with Anthony Yerxa (three), McKinnon, and Linkin Wrolstad getting the other goals.
After losing to the Crushers, the Giants were supposed to play Atikokan in the ‘A’-side consolation final.
But the Voyageurs were taken out of commission by a ‘flu bug that left much of their roster unable to compete Sunday.
As such, the Kenora DST Penguins stepped up to fill in after already having played in the ‘C’ consolation final earlier in the day.
The result was as expected, with DC clobbering the tired Penguins 10-1.
Anthony Yerxa netted five goals in that one while Connor Byzewski (three), Bliss, and Enge also scored.
The host Emo Express claimed the ‘B’ consolation final by downing Kenora Home Hardware 8-3.
Malcolm Martin led the Express with five goals while Porter Burnell added two and Evan Whitfield one.
Emo had opened play with an 11-4 loss to the Voyageurs.
Martin and Whitfield each tallied twice in the loss while Sammy McQuay scored the Voyageurs’ first 10 goals of the game.
Emo next doubled the Penguins 10-5.
Martin exploded for seven goals in that one while Whitfield (two) and Trent Friesen rounded out the scoring.
But Taggs Staggs then blanked the Express 5-0 in the ‘B’-side semi-finals.
