The South County Predators U11 Team Blue attended their first
tournament of the season this past weekend. It was the Lakeshore
Lightning 6th annual at the Atlas Tube Center. The tournament featured 8
teams split into 2 divisions. The SCP team was placed in Division
B, and was scheduled to play their 3 division opponents - Lakeshore Lightning
Black, the Twin Center Hericanes, and the Hamilton Hawks.
Their first opponent was the Lakeshore Black team on Friday evening. This was a familiar competitor as they had just played to a 4-4 tie the previous weekend. Being so familiar you might expect a tight game, and that it was. The Predators came out hard and struck first only minutes into the game when Blair Davis went in on a clean break and scored on a nice shot on the Lakeshore goaltender. Assists on Davis goal went to Sophie Gobbo and Ellyse Fischer. From there it was a back and forth affair with chances at both ends of the rink. There were many scrambles in front of the net and persistence by both teams. That persistence finally paid off when midway through the 2nd period Blair Davis scored her 2nd of the game from a battle in the crease with assists by Gobbo and Brihana Glass. The Predators put the heat on in the 3rd period and were never at risk of losing their lead due to some great defensive play and complimentary goaltending. When the final buzzer sounded, Olivia Versnal had her first shutout of the season. Final Score SCP Predators Team Blue 2 Lakeshore Lightning 0.
The following day they had 2 games on the schedule, the first being against the Twin Center Hericanes. Facing an unfamiliar foe, this SCP team did not know what to expect. However, only minutes after the puck dropped, Emmie Poirier broke in and scored on a wrist shot to the glove hand side. It looked like this team was ready to go. However, the Hericanes ladies came right back and scored 3 goals in succession to close out the period up 3-1. From there, the Predators Team battled hard, but this was not there game to win as a strong Twin Center team scored a goal in the 2nd and a goal in the 3rd to win the game 5-1.
After a tough loss, the Preds had only a few hours to prepare for their second opponent of the day, the Hamilton Hawks. Facing a must win game to have any hopes of moving on to the semis, this team needed to refocus quickly. They came out quick and took the game to Hamilton. They put consistent pressure on the Hamilton team and controlled the game from the outset. Emmie Poirier opened the scoring for the Predators early in the 1st, with an assist going to Blair Davis. In the 2nd period, Poirier scored her second of the game, and 3rd of the tournament, off a pass up the middle from Robyn Humber, to make it 2-0. This game was all predators up to that point and continued for the remainder of the game. The team played sound positional hockey, with nice passes being made to control the puck and set up goal scoring opportunities. At 10:07 of the 3rd period Sophie Gobbo put the predators up by 3 with assists going to Adalynn Russell and Harper Boudreau. When the final whistle blew the SCP team had outshot their opponent by a margin of 46-4, and Olivia Versnal had her 2nd shutout of the tournament. This was a dominant win when they needed it. Final Score SCP Team Blue 3 Hamilton 0.
The win against the Hamilton team put the Predator's in 2nd place in their division with a 2 win and 1 loss record, and allowing them to move on to the semi finals against the top team in the Division A, the Essex Thunder. This would be the 3rd new opponent in a row Team Blue would face in this tournament, so once again it was unknown how this game would play out. As it went, this game proved to be the game of the tournament and an exciting event for any spectator that was lucky enough to watch this early Sunday morning game. The competitiveness by all players was evident and you could see that these ladies all knew what was at stake. Blair Davis opened the scoring at 7:44 of the first period off a rebound in the goal crease. Essex scored one back at 4:14 to tie it at 1-1. The 2nd period was a back and forth affair. SCP applied pressure on the Essex team. At one point the line of Poirier, Glass and Davis held the puck in their opponents zone for over 2 minutes getting one opportunity after the other, but unable to put the puck into the net. There were no goals scored in the 2nd period. With the game tied at one going into the 3rd, it was anyone's guess who would come out the winner in this game. Team Blue continued their excellent 2nd period into the 3rd, controlling the puck possession, when they finally scored their 2nd of the game to go up 2-1. The goal was scored by Sophie Gobbo after some nice passes within the offensive zone by Victoria Thompson and Reese Baillargeon. As the period wore on, the chances tightened up and much of the play was back and forth and in the boards and corners. Neither one of these teams was allowing many chances in front of their goals. With only a few minutes to play, it had the feeling that the Predators team was going to pull out a victory. However, off a turnover in the neutral zone, the Essex team sent a player in on the Preds goaltender and scored to tied it up at 2 a piece. That is the way it stayed until the end of regulation play. With the Predator's outshooting their opponent by a 21-8 margin going into a winner take all, 4 on 4 sudden death overtime, it was now any ones game. The puck dropped and the teams seemed tentative with the unfamiliar 4 on 4 play. With the extra room on the ice, one mistake could allow a player to break out to a 2 on 1 or uncontested attack. That is exactly what happened only 2 minutes into the OT when the Essex Thunder player obtained the puck in open space and went in to score the Overtime winner and send them off to the finals. It was a stunned South County Predators team, who had put their heart into this game looking for the victory. But as it goes in all sports, without a losing team there would not be a winner.
It was a great showing by the South County Team Blue in this Tournament. They were knocking at the door of a Finals appearance and they should be proud of that. With 2 more tournaments remaining in their season, this was a great opportunity to learn how to play so many games in a short period of time and to work through the challenges they will face. I am sure all players, coaches, and staff are already chomping at the bit to get to the next tournament to see what the team can do.